On March 28th, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar—the strongest to hit the region in a century. The epicenter was in the Sagaing region, near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, in the northwest of the country. Sagaing is also the epicenter of Myanmar’s civil war and the humanitarian crisis caused by the brutal conflict that has raged for the past four years. In other words, this earthquake created a crisis on top of a crisis. And it struck just as the main backer of global humanitarian relief—the United States—has suspended nearly all foreign aid and emergency humanitarian assistance programs.
Joining me to discuss the damage caused by the earthquake and the ongoing local and international response is Bob Kitchen, a veteran humanitarian official and the Vice President for Emergencies at the International Rescue Committee. We begin by discussing the scope of the damage and the complexities of mounting a response in the midst of Myanmar's civil war, before delving into how the response to this sudden-onset natural disaster is being shaped by the absence of American leadership, which has long played a central role in global emergency relief efforts.
This episode is free and available across all podcast listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. But if you’d like to see more reporting on global humanitarian issues, please support our work with your paid subscription.
You can get a discounted subscription using this button
If you’d like to support our work at full price, use this button
Next up: I’ll be going live with the great Justin Ling of Bug Eyed and Shameless at 2:30pm today D.C./New York/Montreal/Toronto time to discuss how Canadians — and Canadian politics — is responding to Trump’s aggression. Join us!
Share this post