Michael Sullivan
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
He's helping with the relief effort, but doesn't want to be named because he's afraid of the military.
Up First from NPR
Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Right now, firefighters, police, the Red Cross, and volunteers are taking bodies from the rubble, he says, but we don't have enough equipment, not enough machinery, and that's why the rescue work is very hard. He says he reckons about 80% of the town has been totally destroyed and says the death toll just in his town is at 200 and counting.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Now, that's in a town about 150 miles south of Mandalay, the city you mentioned, only 10 miles from the epicenter, a city of over a million people, and Images coming from there show pancake buildings everywhere, and rescue efforts hampered workers say by the same lack of equipment and enough people to help.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
The hospitals are completely overflowing, and many people are preparing to spend their second consecutive night outside in the street, some because their homes are gone, others because they're afraid theirs might come down at any time.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Surprisingly, they have. Here's junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in a televised address last night. So here he's saying Myanmar will welcome foreign aid from anywhere, and some has already begun to arrive from neighboring India and China. President Trump says the U.S. has offered to help as well.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Though it's not clear how, especially with the gutting of USAID, disaster relief was part of what it did. Now, in past disasters, the military ignored offers of help or severely restricted it, most egregiously, Scott, in 2008 when Cyclone Nargis struck, and Western nations offered to use their navies and helicopters to ferry in relief supplies.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
The military ignored them and slow walked visas for foreign aid workers, and more than 140,000 people ended up dying. I think the military asking for help this time is probably a sign they realize just how bad the situation is.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Well, I mean, it's impossible to say really, but modeling by the USGS estimates the death toll from a quake as powerful as this in an area like this is likely to surpass 10,000 with a strong possibility it could go much, much higher. And I have to stress how ill-prepared the country is for dealing with something this awful.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Four years of civil war since the coup has left the public health system in tatters and aid distribution is severely restricted by the conflict as well. In a country where nearly 20 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, which says more than 15 million, or roughly a third of the population, are facing acute food insecurity.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
And Scott, that was even before this quake.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Yeah, we felt it here in Chiang Rai, and it was felt in several other provinces as well, but the damage was pretty minimal. In Bangkok, farther south, it was far more dramatic, with shaking skyscrapers sending people scurrying into the streets. You might have seen this video, Scott, of the infinity pool on top of one of these high-rise buildings raining water down several stories onto the street.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
And many buildings in Bangkok are being examined over the weekend before the work week starts again on Monday. And the 30-story building under construction that you mentioned in the intro, that completely collapsed. Several people were killed there. And rescue efforts are continuing to reach dozens of construction workers trapped under the debris. And many of them are migrant workers from Myanmar.
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Myanmar Quake, Who Pays Tariffs, E.O. Impacts On Arts
Well, it's hard getting information from Myanmar because of the military government's severe restrictions on Internet access and other means of communication since the 2021 coup. But reports that are leaking out, Scott, are pretty grim. Here's a teacher from Pyemana on the outskirts of the capital, Nipida.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
Good morning.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
Well, the pictures we're seeing coming out of Mandalay are pretty awful. It's Myanmar's second largest city, about 10 miles from the epicenter. And those pictures show many parts of the city of 1.5 million in ruins. And efforts to free those trapped under the rubble have been hampered by a lack of heavy equipment and personnel.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
And time is running short for finding more survivors, especially with the temperature hovering near 100 degrees and the smell of death rescue workers say is overpowering. Here's a retired teacher from Mandalay. She doesn't want to be identified. She's afraid of the military. My house was badly damaged, she says, so now we're sleeping out here in the road. A hot pot shop near my house.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
just disappeared into the earth, she says, and many, many big buildings just collapsed. We cannot count how many have died. And this is just in Mandalay, Michelle. There's other area rescuers haven't been able to reach.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
They have, and that's unusual and maybe a sign they realize how bad things are. It's something they've been loathe to do in past crises, especially in 2008, when Cyclone Nargis struck and left about 140,000 dead.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
Emergency response teams from China, India, and Russia, and some other countries, have arrived in country, but the airport in Mandalay, it's still closed to large aircraft, and that means much of the foreign assistance is being flown into the former capital, Yangon, some 350 miles to the south. That's a long way from Mandalay. President Trump said on Friday the U.S.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
will be helping, too, but we're still waiting to see just how USAID has played a large role in disaster relief in the past, but it's been gutted by the Trump administration in recent weeks.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
That's right. I mean, this war has been raging since the 2021 coup, and it's crippled Myanmar's public health system. It's displaced millions and severely restricted the distribution of aid for those people and for others as well. The UN says nearly 20 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance, and roughly 15 million were facing acute food insecurity. That's before the quake.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
No. In fact, just hours after the quake, the military launched airstrikes and drone attacks in Karen State, according to relief workers, and reportedly launched several more airstrikes on Sunday against another rebel-controlled area in neighboring Shan State. The war goes on, even as the death toll from the quake continues to rise.
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President Trump Third Term, Smithsonian Executive Order, Myanmar Earthquake
You're welcome.