On 15 June 2009 the children of Lat Tan had their first day of school in new classrooms. It was a happy day for everyone in the village in the Ayeyarwaddy delta, where NRC has built a new school with financial support from the Norwegian government. The old school building collapsed when the cyclone hit the village on 2 May last year. For the past year classes have been held in an emergency shelter built of bamboo and tarpaulin on the school compound.

“We never thought we would get such a nice school in our village” said U Hla Htay from the village school committee.

“Now we can give the children in the village a better education and more of them will have the chance to move on to the middle and high school in Kyar Kan village when they finish fourth grade here” said a proud headmaster, 23 year old Daw Swe Swe Aung. 


The school in Lat Tan is built on a frame of re-enforced concrete, making the building fit to resist strong cyclones and other extreme weather conditions. The new school can also serve as a shelter for the village populating should disaster strike again as it did with such devastating effect the night between 2 and 3 May 2008.

2500 schools were partly or totally damaged by the cyclone. NRC has completed five schools, all of which can also serve as cyclone shelters, since February and plan to start construction of another 20 when the monsoon rain finishes in October.

The school in Lat Tan village was handed over to the local community by NRC Country Director Jørn Kristensen at a small ceremony at the school.