Global News Podcast - Myanmar remembers earthquake dead with a minute's silence

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Myanmar's military government says more than 2,700 people are confirmed dead. Also: The UN says about 1,000 children have been killed or injured in Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip, and the Great Gatsby marks its 100th anniversary.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and at 13HR's GMT on Tuesday the 1st of April these are our main stories. A woman's been pulled alive from the rubble of a collapsed building in Myanmar's capital four days after the huge earthquake that left thousands dead. The UN says about a thousand children have been killed or hurt in Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis have issued more evacuation orders for the Palestinian territory and China has begun large-scale military exercises to practice for a blockade of Taiwan. Taiwan says Beijing is the world's biggest

troublemaker. Also in this podcast on the 100th anniversary of the publication of the American classic The Great Gatsby we'll hear about the 100th anniversary of the publication of the American classic The Great Gatsby, we'll hear about a new rendition of the novel. Let's make her a woman, let's make her a social media influencer. Fitzgerald himself said he had no important women characters in this book and he feared that was a failing of it. Flags are at half mast in Myanmar and a minute silence has been observed four days after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake which has claimed more than 2,700 lives so far. Even as the figures for the number of dead continue to rise, there was a small piece

of good news. A woman in her sixties has been rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in the capital, Napier door, after being trapped for 91 hours. Meanwhile, a team from the BBC's Burmese service has arrived at the epicentre of the quake in Mandalay. Tozar Lynn is one of them. Her report has been re-voiced because we couldn't get a quality line. I am now in Mandalay, near the epicentre of the earthquake. We arrived late last night, one full day later than planned. When we drove into the city,

it was completely dark. There was no power, no drinking water, and we couldn't find a bathroom. We hadn't been able to book a hotel in advance, and the back-up plan was to sleep in our car. After driving around for a bit, somehow we got lucky and managed to find a hotel but there was no food there so we stepped out to look for some. There were some

shops open but there were long queues and it was very crowded. We didn't have internet all of last night and no connectivity with our team and Yangon was very patchy with phone lines barely working. We had to go to the terrace of the hotel to try to patch into the network. Late at night there was a huge aftershock. We didn't feel safe sleeping in the hotel so we left and found shelter at a monastery nearby. We returned to the hotel in the morning to collect our bags. This was the first time we were seeing Mandalay in the light. The city was filled with ruins.

We also heard from this surgeon in Mandalay who wishes to remain anonymous. As I am an orthopaedic surgeon, I'm doing some operations for the victims in local hospitals. But the challenge is that most local hospitals are also affected by the earthquake and cannot run their services fully. All electricity is cut off and communication systems have also broken down, so we're facing so many challenging situations. We also have the potential to be arrested during our operation and giving treatments for the victims. The military government is doing some evacuations, but they're not effective. I think they are only doing less than 10% needed for the victims.

People are evacuating themselves. Some international rescue teams are arriving now, but the military government is not allowing them to go to the most affected areas. Even in Mandalay, the Indian rescue team are helping in the Great Wall Hotel only, and the Chinese team is doing in the Sky Villa condo. I believe they are not allowed to go to other places in Mandalay. Challenges are everywhere in Mandalay and the whole country. We Myanmar people are facing not only natural disasters, but also the cruelty of military

dictatorship. Airstrikes are still active in some regions even in this sad situation. A surgeon in Mandalay speaking to the BBC. Our correspondent Nick Marsh is in neighbouring Thailand which was also affected by the earthquake. We're on day five now after the earthquake struck on Friday. The chances of finding survivors becomes less and less likely. That doesn't mean that people will stop trying, it doesn't mean that international rescue teams aren't going in, but obviously as more time goes by the likelihood of these

people being found alive diminishes. What is the latest situation where you are? Well I'm actually looking at that vast mound of rubble that was supposed to be a government office building which was under construction when it came down in a matter of seconds on Friday. There's actually still plenty of work going on here. There's diggers, huge cranes wherever you look. They're shifting these enormous slabs of concrete and trying to take away all the twisted metal

that still remains of this mound of debris. It's still about four or five stories high. There's lots happening here, but it's become a generally accepted fact now that this operation is less about search and rescue of survivors and more about search and recovery of bodies. And Bangkok's governor was actually here just a couple of hours ago and he was talking about the removal of bodies. He was saying that, you know know scanners weren't picking up any more signs of life they were just detecting bodies. So an investigation has been launched companies who were involved in the construction of this

building have been placed under investigation. We saw some steel samples being taken away from the construction site for analysis and the Thai government wants answers by the end of the week but that's kind of the focus where I am now in Bangkok Jackie. That was Nick Marsh. Well in the city of Maysut on the Thai Myanmar border there is a thirst for news about the earthquake but also a deep distrust of the military junta. Many of those who have moved there have done so because they reject Myanmar's leadership. Some live right on the borderline in a kind of no-man's land between Thailand and Myanmar. They sell their wares at a pop-up market stuck between the two

countries trying to eke out an existence. Our correspondent Anna Foster has been to visit. This is a pop-up market that springs up in the daytime but this isn't a market for food or for clothes. This is for cigarettes. There are whiskeys, premium brands of vodka, they're all piled up in these sort of roughly hewn wooden stalls covered with tarpaulins and corrugated iron. And this whole setup is run by people who are Burmese but live in this no-man's land between Thailand and Myanmar. So they are really watching closely what is happening inside the country but like everybody

else unable to get the information and also unable to go back there now. I'm really angry at myself because I can't do anything from here. I want the military junta and international aid to send any emergency help and supply to the family who are in the affected area. It will be really helpful. Aowe lives here in Thailand now. He left Yangon four years ago for political reasons. But when you look at what is happening now, particularly the survivors, do you see and hear that they're getting the help that they need? There are so many Muslim people dying in Myanmar. Some mosques are falling down and crushing

them. I'm very sad and sorry, and I'm angry with the military leader because he is accepting only aid from Russia and China, and he didn't look after his people. We just stop here for a second look and walk up these steps. It's like a dry river bed but look it's completely covered in these tangles of rusty barbed wire. This is to stop people coming over this way right? Yes. They look quite makesh, these buildings. What kind of people live across here? I think also illegal. The sun's gone down now and the lights are twinkling in Myanmar, less than 100 metres away.

And I'm still with our interpreter, Richard, who's from Mandalay, the second biggest city in Myanmar, the one that's been badly affected because it's right at the epicentre of the earthquake. Richard, do you think Myanmar feels more cut off than ever or is the civil war now getting much more international attention? They always used a blocking system, they didn't any help from other country, they only accept from close country like Russia and China. That's not true, no they have accepted aid from lots of other countries. But what's interesting is you're not the first person

I've spoken to today who thinks that. Actually, a lot of people who oppose the junta do think that, but in fact, they have accepted more this time. Myanmar need more help. And now it's still happening in Myanmar. Aquitaine is shaking. And the building is still crashing down. That report was by Anna Foster.

The United Nations says about a thousand children have been killed or wounded in Gaza since Israel renewed its offensive in the Palestinian territory last month. The UN's children's agency UNICEF says 322 children have died following the collapse of the two-month ceasefire last week. Quoting figures given by the Hamas-run Health Ministry, it says more than 600 children have been injured. There's been no official response from Israel. Our correspondent Imogen Foulkes told us more. What UNICEF says is it estimates, as you said some of the figures are coming from officials from the health ministry in Gaza, that around a thousand children, a hundred a day have

been killed or maimed in the last ten days. Now some of these children were reportedly already in hospital, Al Nasser hospital was hit on March 23rd. So it's basically kind of what UNICEF has been saying for a very long time, there is just nowhere safe in Gaza for children or indeed for anyone. UN compounds have been hit, the International Committee of the Red Cross also and now just in the last couple of days we've learned of this shocking killings of 15 aid workers, the Red Crescent UN Civil Defence and today one aid worker who spent a lot of time in Gaza said you're

just seeing daily multiple violations of international law and there's a real frustration among aid agencies. Part of their job is to kind of uphold international law, that this just keeps on happening and that their own colleagues are being killed. Hundreds of aid workers have been killed in Gaza as we know. And how much access are aid agencies, aid workers actually getting in Gaza? Very limited. They are still there and trying to work, although we do know the UN has reduced its footprint because since the first week of March there has been a complete blockade

on supplies or aid workers getting in and out. So food and medicines are getting very low. Half of the ambulances now cannot work because there's fuel shortages or they have been damaged in the conflict. So it's really worse than challenging for the population. That was Imogen Folks. Well the Israeli military has issued more evacuation orders in the Gaza Strip, this time for parts of the north. Mike Thompson is our Middle East regional editor and he came into the Global News Pod studio to tell us more. Well there are large areas of the North now that are affected, principally the Northeast and that follows, Israel says, the firing of rockets which has prompted this. Israel is saying these residents need to then head to Gaza City to

shelters there for safety. Now this comes on top of other evacuation orders issued yesterday and these involved large parts of the south so it's really quite extensive and in fact already even yesterday around a fifth of Gaza was now under an evacuation order and now that's been increased further by what we just heard today. And we've also had reports that Hamas is now saying that its fighters are attacking Israeli soldiers inside the Strip. Is this back to full blown war? It's heading that way. So far Hamas seems to have held off a little. It's carried on

negotiations, which of course Israel says it's also doing whilst under fire, as it puts it. But yes, it looks like now Hamas is thinking, well, we're getting panelled, so it's now going to be the time to fight back, because if we don't it won't really help us anyway. So where does this leave the peace process? Well Hamas still seem to be pushing and mediators are pushing for some resolution to this. Israel says it too, wants to have a ceasefire again and that it wants at least half of the hostages released. So far Hamas has only said it will release around five, including an American hostage, which is particularly aimed at President Trump. But yes, meanwhile, the fighting is continuing.

People are dying, large numbers of them, children as we've been hearing today from UNICEF. That was Mike Thompson. The Lebanese Shia Muslim group Hezbollah was battered by Israel in the war. Its supporters are still struggling, communities are in ruins and no one knows if there will be any help to rebuild what has been destroyed. Hezbollah's critics see this as a unique opportunity to disarm it and countries say financial support will only come if the Lebanese government acts to curb the power of the group. Now discontent seems to be growing within its ranks. Our

Middle East correspondent Ugo Bashaygha has travelled to southern Lebanon to hear from some of the group's supporters. When the pager exploded, I was sitting behind my desk in the office. I tried to crawl to the door because I'd locked it while I changed out of my clothes. But I couldn't reach the door and that's why you see blood all over the floor. In the end, my colleagues arrived and knocked down the door and they took me to the emergency room. This is Adam. He's a Hizballah member who works as a nurse at a hospital in Lebanon.

On the 17th of September last year, pages of Hizballah members across Lebanon suddenly exploded, killing around a dozen people and wounding thousands. So this is the video of the room where the pager exploded. This is my finger, as long as it doesn't. And there. This is my finger on the desk. And there's a lot of blood on the floor. Adam lost his thumb and several fingers and was blinded in one eye and still has shrapnel in his chest and head.

So this is a picture of you in the hospital. So your entire face is covered by bandages and also your torso. When you look at these pictures, how do you feel? Very good. Why? Because we believe that the wounds are a kind of medal from God, honoring what we go through fighting for a righteous cause.

Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization by countries including the UK and the U.S. But here, being a Hezbollah member doesn't necessarily mean you are a fighter. Adam himself says he's never been one. The pager attack was carried out by Hezbollah's great enemy, Israel. It was a turning point in the conflict. For almost a year, the two sides had been exchanging fire after Hezbollah launched strikes on Israel in support of Gaza following the Hamas attacks on the 7th of October. What followed was a devastating Israeli bombing

campaign and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Israel said it was acting to stop Hezbollah's rocket attacks and to allow its displaced residents to return home. In Lebanon, the authorities say around 4,000 people were killed and almost 18,000 wounded in the conflict. A ceasefire was agreed in November, but it didn't put an end to the suffering here. Kefal Kila was one of the border towns almost completely destroyed by the Israeli military during the war.

I've come to the top of the hill here border towns almost completely destroyed by the Israeli military during the war. I've come to the top of the hill here and I can see the whole of Kifakila and it is just very difficult to describe the scale of the devastation here, the destruction. It really compares with the result of an earthquake. There's nothing really left standing here. Alia, a mother of three, came to see what she could salvage from her home. We entered and all we could see was destruction and ruins. They even uprooted our trees. I only knew that this was my house because of the remains of this plant over there, the

roses and this tree. No one knows who is going to help pay to rebuild what's been destroyed. Lebanon's international allies say they will only provide help if the government acts to curb Hezbollah's power, because Hezbollah's opponents see this as a unique opportunity to disarm it. For some supporters like Alia, that's unthinkable. We don't want any aid that comes with conditions about our arms, For some supporters, like Alia, that's unthinkable. We don't want any aid that comes with conditions about our arms, or about the resistance, because we've sacrificed a lot to get this far.

We will not allow them to take our dignity, our honour, take away our arms just for us to build a house. We'll build it ourselves. It isn't surprising that people here remain defiant. For many, Hezbollah is a fundamental part of their lives. In Lebanon, the group is more than a militia. It is also a political party and a social movement. But there have been whispers of dissent within Hezbollah's ranks.

It was a miscalculation by them, by Hezbollah. They dragged people into a situation that nobody wanted. This is a Hezbollah supporter who is now critical of the group. To protect his identity, his words in English and Arabic are spoken by our producers. Now our demand is that we all come back under the Lebanese state. We fall back under the Lebanese army and we empower the Lebanese army to a position where we can actually stand up to Israel and protect us. But until that happens, no one can ask Hezbollah to disarm.

Any discussions about disarmament are likely to be difficult, full of risks. Pushing the group too hard, too quickly, could result in even more violence. Many here are tired of conflict but there are plenty too who still really believe in Hezbollah, its purpose and the role it plays in their lives. Ugo Bachega reporting and you can hear the full documentary on assignment, Hezbollah in trouble or on the documentary podcast feed. Still to come in this podcast the European Union says it's ready to retaliate against US trade tariffs that President Trump's expected to announce in the next day or so.

We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it. The biggest troublemaker in the world, that's how Taiwan has described China as Beijing again carries out big military drills around the island. China says the exercises are a powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence and President Lai is a parasite. Karen Kuo is the spokesperson for Taiwan's president. President Lai has instructed the national security and defence units to make preparations and deal with the situation. In the face of external threats,

our government will continue to defend the democratic and free constitutional system. Beijing sees self-governed Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of China. Our Asia Pacific editor, Miki Bristo, told us more about these latest military drills. They were launched by the Chinese Eastern Command of the People's Liberation Army. They involve air, land and sea forces, also the rocket forces, targeting targets on land and in sea around Taiwan. Most importantly, I think for Taiwan, they're practicing blockading the island from all directions.

Taiwan's a very small island. It's a trading nation. A lot on trade for the import of food. It also exports a lot of manufactured goods, such as semiconductors. And so the ability to kind of control what goes in and outside of Taiwan is critically important and many military analysts have been thinking over the last few years this is

what China is trying to do blockade the island instead of practicing an invasion which would be quite difficult it would be easier and perhaps just as devastating for Taiwan if they blockaded the island. They've carried out such drills before. Is this more of the same or are tensions rising? Yeah, it's a good question and it's interesting the way you phrase that because even yourself you'll have done this story a number of times before about China's military launching drills around Taiwan. How do you judge this? I think that's part of what China wants us to do. It's not like Russia, which invaded Ukraine one day, it wasn't. The next day it was. China is employing something called

gray zone tactics. Essentially, it increases the pressure on Taiwan very, very slowly. So the world doesn't really notice what's going on. But in the end, it's in a position where a lot has changed. So for example, over the last 10 years, these kind of drills hardly ever took place. Now they're commonplace, but nobody really has noticed because China has gone quite slowly. I'll just give you an example. There is a median line between the island of Taiwan and China. Up until about five years ago, China rarely crossed this median line. Now it does so all the time. So it's really increased the frequency, the scale of these drills. No one has really noticed that.

That was Miki Bristo. The international community is being accused of ignoring the deaths of millions of people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. President Felix Chisikedi blamed neighbouring states for backing the M23 rebel group. Rwanda has accused Congo of hosting and cooperating with Hutu rebels who opposed the government in Kigali. Our Africa regional editor Will Ross told us more about what President Chisikedi had to say. He was speaking at an event in Kinshasa where the term genocost is being pushed and this is an attempt to get people to look at the whole conflict in the east of DR Congo in

a different way and not to see it in terms of ethnic divisions and tribal tensions but instead a determination often by outsiders to exploit the mineral wealth of that area. So he's talking about a genocost or the cost of the conflict and the economic cost of all these wars. But yes, he was blaming neighboring countries. And we know that in the past, Uganda has been heavily involved. And now we know Rwanda is very involved with the M23 rebel group but he was also talking as you say about the international community kind of ignoring what's going on. I mean it is a tragedy that since the mid 1990s these vast areas of eastern Congo have

been troubled by endless conflicts and they have involved neighbouring countries. He used quite strong language, didn't he? He has a point, doesn't he, about it being fuelled by neighbours and ignored by the international community? Well he does and some of the figures he used perhaps people will question, 10 million lives lost since the mid-1990s. mean, there have been some extraordinary numbers that have been talked about in the past. The global conflict tracker that looks pretty closely at what's happening in Congo,

it talks about six million deaths since 1996. We've also had the UN in the past over a decade ago talking about 45,000 people dying every month, not because of the bullets flying around, but because of the collapse of the health service. So yes, the numbers are extremely stark and he does have a point when he says that neighbouring countries are contributing to it, but those countries, including Rwanda, would say that Congo itself has not played a strong hand in trying to deal with these rebel groups to stop the

conflicts and in fact Rwanda's accused the Kinshasa government at times of working hand in hand with those Hutu rebels who were against the Kigali government. That was Will Ross. President Trump says he will be very kind to America's trading partners when he unveils further tariffs. Mr Trump said the import taxes would be announced potentially by Tuesday night but probably on Wednesday, a day he has described as liberation day. The European Union is threatening to retaliate. Our Europe regional editor is Paul Moss. What exactly he's going to do on Wednesday is hard to say simply because as his won't Donald Trump has made rather different sometimes contradictory statements at different times as you

said he's now said he's going to be kind in imposing tariffs at other times he sounded very aggressive indeed he said that countries are ripping off America and it's time to get his own back what we can say is there's two ways he could impose tariffs you could impose tariffs on a country. He's already done that with Canada. From Wednesday, Canada will be hit with 25% tariffs on almost all of what it exports to the United States. But he may also choose to go after different sectors. We know that he wants to impose tariffs on cars, on pharmaceuticals, on semiconductors.

This, of course, would affect different countries differently. Britain is very worried about the possibility of tariffs on cars. Taiwan obviously worried about import tariffs on semiconductors. Really all I can say is at the moment every country is sitting there very worried. And tell us about how they're reacting. Well you've got a choice really. They could play hardball and retaliate with tariffs of their own, but some fear that that could lead to a full-blown trade war, which won't help anyone. Others think it's better to sort of suck up the punishment for a while and perhaps negotiate a way out of it. The European Union's Commission's president, Ursula von der Leyen,

in some ways expressed this twin-track approach in a statement she made on Tuesday morning. Europe has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to retaliate. But if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it. Retaliation can come in different forms. You could hit back with tariffs of your own. Another way, though, is just to withdraw. We've already seen Japan, Korea and China saying, well, OK, we'll do more trade with each other and avoid trading with the United States. That in a sense is a slower but perhaps more effective form of retaliation. I think in terms of response, special mention should go to Vietnam, which

is very worried because that has a strong trade imbalance. The Vietnamese prime minister has said that he will go and play golf with Donald Trump for as long as it takes to get the threat of tariffs lifted. That was Paul Moss. This month marks 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote his classic novel The Great Gatsby. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made. Set in 1920s

American High Society during the Jazz Age on Long Island in New York it focuses on Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy woman he loved in his youth. It's written through the eyes of Nick Caraway, who moves to the fictional West Egg on Long Island and becomes acquainted with Gatsby. The novel has sold 25 million copies worldwide and has been the subject of numerous films and plays over the decades. Nick Robinson spoke to Sarah Churchwell, professor in American literature, and Jane Crowther, who has written a new version of the book. And he began by asking Sarah why the story has such an enduring appeal.

One is that I think its contemporary relevance right now is incredibly strong. It's a novel about good faith and bad faith, about how we maintain our hope and our ideals when we're surrounded by people operating with cynicism and ruthless selfishness. It's a novel about how we have to hang on to a kind of stubborn refusal to give up on our ideals and to believe that there is something better that we can create no matter how dark the world is around us. That's fascinating you're saying that the echo of the 20s with now hope in the face of what for many is despair is why it still has an appeal today. Absolutely. Look people are

familiar with the idea that it's critiquing the American dream I mean that's a kind of cliche about the novel it shows that America doesn't allow for upward social mobility. But it's saying something more profound about our need to believe in the possibility of self-improvement, of upward social mobility, of hope, even when we are surrounded by power structures that suggest to us that those are impossible and that our hopes are futile and that both have to coexist. What the novel encapsulates. Jane Crowther, when you first read it, what was it? Jane Crowther I think the more cynical you get as you get older, you read different things into the book, as Sarah

says. So when I read it first time, it was the doomed romance of it. But when I've read it recently, it's very much that sort of idea of the heartlessness of the world that we still see today and the hope that you need to have within it for romance and everything else. Jason Vale It pays re-reading in other words in your view? Absolutely which is why I wrote a sort of reinterpretation of it for the modern day. Now you've done something quite bold. You've said let's make Gatsby a woman. Let's make her a woman, let's make her a social media influencer and let's talk about the interior lives of the women in this novel because Fitzgerald himself said he had no

important women characters in this book and he feared that was a failing of it. So yeah, I took the opportunity to have my own little American dream and re-spin it for today's world. It's out this month of Gatsby fans yet had a chance to say, how dare you fiddle with the original. Oh, I'm sure there will be people, but I think it's a sort of Rorschach test, isn't it? The book itself and I think that's the case for anyone reinterpreting it really. And Professor Churchwell, there are people who say, well, that is a weakness of the original,

that it isn't good at portraying women. Well, there are. And there are other criticisms we can make of it. I mean, some people like to say that it's a perfect novel. I don't think there's any such thing. But it's pretty close, you know, and we haven't talked about yet the magic of the language. But it is one of the best written novels of the modern era. And these kinds of timeless images that stay with us, the green light across the bay, Gadsby's mansion that's lit up but hollow, Dr. Eckelberg's giant eyes looking over the landscape. I mean, these symbols capture these incredibly vivid images of modern life and

how we are always struggling to try to find meaning in that world. And Jane, do you share that view? Oh yes, it's absolutely wonderful. Anyone can read it and enjoy it, pick a sentence part and put it on a poster. That was Jane Crowther and we also heard from Professor Sarah Churchwell. They were speaking to Nick Robinson. And that's it from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast

later. If you would like to comment on this edition or the topics covered in it, do please send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at BBC World Service. Just use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Craig Kingham. The producer was Emma Joseph. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and until next time, goodbye.