Up First from NPR - Morocco Earthquake, Trump rally, Antibiotic Resistant Infections

Episode Date: September 9, 2023

A strong earthquake hit Morocco killing hundreds of people and injuring scores more. Donald Trump fundraised in South Dakota last night, accompanied by the state's governor Kristi Noem. Antibiotic resistant infections are causing more and more deaths across the world, and air pollution may be to blame.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

More than 800 people are dead after an earthquake hits the historic city of Marrakesh. Rescuers scramble to save people from under the rubble. Scores of people are injured. We'll have the latest details from Morocco. I'm Scott Simon. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. At a Republican rally in South Dakota. I am being indicted for you. I'm not too thrilled about that, but that's part of the job description, isn't it? I'm being indicted for you. Former President Donald Trump makes his case for a return to the White House.

Does South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem have a chance to be his running mate? Also, antibiotic-resistant infections are killing thousands of people around the world. Scientists say almost 10 million people a year could die by 2050. Air pollution may be to blame for their rise. Please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today.

There hasn't been an earthquake like this in Morocco since 1900. The U.S. Geological Survey says quakes in this area were uncommon, but not unexpected. Authorities there say that more than 800 people have been killed. They expect that number to rise. Hundreds of more people are wounded as rescuers scramble to try to save them from the rubble. And Piers Ruth Sherlock joins us from Rome. Ruth, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, Scott. What's the latest you hear from the region? Well, what we know is this earthquake hit in the night on Friday, and the epicenter is just over 40 miles south of the historic city of Marrakesh.

There's video footage posted online from the earthquake region and it shows people panicked running through the streets in the dark amid these clouds of dust as they're trying to find some kind of safety. This was a powerful earthquake Scott about 6.8 in magnitude according to the US Geological Survey and it lasted several seconds and then the agency said another earthquake of 4.9 magnitude hit about 19 minutes later. The epicenter is in the Atlas Mountains. And the problem with that is the damage spans across about five provinces to remote villages that are hard to reach. So emergency workers have been trying to get through impassable roads in some places.

Power is said to be down in several towns and villages. Rescuers have been working through the night, but the death toll has been rising quickly. Of course, Marrakesh is historic and storied. What do we know about the damage there? Well, you know, like you said, this is a historic region, and Marrakesh itself dates back as a city back to the 11th century. So many of the buildings there are, you know, made of these stone blocks and traditional masonry, and they're not necessarily built to withstand earthquakes. In Marrakesh itself, we know that the Qutubiyya Mosque, which

dates back to about the 12th century, has apparently suffered some damage. There's video of the 69 meter high minaret of the mosque shaking and dust billowing from the top and there's also videos showing damage to parts of the famous red walls that surround the old city which is a UNESCO heritage site. Look we don't know the full extent of the damage and we won't know for some time. It does seem though that you know initially much of the historical part of the city has been spared. There's lots of tourists that visit the city from around the world. And, you know, we're hearing reports of some of these tourists lining up at hospitals alongside Moroccans offering to donate blood.

Ruth, what do we know about the rescue effort? Well, you know, like I mentioned, a big part of the problem here is that a lot of the damage is in these remote areas. So a lot of the work right now is about clearing roads for ambulances to even be able to pass, to even be able to get to these areas. As some of the roads are said to be, you know, covered in rubble. The government is sending aid also. There's trucks filled with blankets, food, campcots and other help snaking up through the mountains. President Joe Biden is among several world leaders that's offered to send help, as have France and Germany and lots of other countries. But the Moroccan government needs to formally request that help before outside rescue crews can come in.

And there's Ruth Sherlock on duty for us in Rome. Ruth, thanks so much for being with us. Thanks so much, Scott. Former President Donald Trump made a campaign stop in South Dakota last night. It's his first rally since his fourth indictment. Lee Strubinger from South Dakota Public Broadcasting was at the event and joins us now. Lee, thanks so much for being with us. Yeah, you bet, Scott. And why did Mr. Trump come to South Dakota? Yeah, with Trump

facing numerous felony charges, he came to South Dakota where his support is strong. He attended a state Republican fundraiser, and in return, Trump was able to secure a key endorsement from Republican Governor Kristi Noem. Here she is introducing the former president last night. He is a man of significance. He is the leader, the fighter that our country needs. He has my full and complete endorsement for president of the United States of America.

So this should come as no surprise to those who follow Noem closely. But there has been speculation the second term Republican governor might run for president. But in the last few months, she's taken a saying there's no path to winning the nomination with Trump in the race. And more recent speculation, however, that she could join Donald Trump as a running mate, help us understand what she might bring to a ticket. Yeah, Noma's been a strong supporter of Trump and loyal for years. She's able to paint a narrative of South Dakota being a red state success story because of Trump. Noma's a rising politician. She'll appear regularly on Fox News to talk about national issues and push back against Biden administration policies. And she often ties in that national narrative to how

she says it affects South Dakota. Noem started gaining national attention for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. She likes to bring that up a lot. And during the rally, there even appeared to be efforts to plant the idea of Noam as a running mate in Trump's mind. When Noam was giving her speech, signs were passed around with both their names on it. And when Trump walked out on stage, a Trump-Noam 2024 sign flashed on the big screen in the arena. But that ticket wasn't really hard for attendees to imagine. Throughout the speech, Trump projected what his second presidency might look like, and supporters here are even embracing the idea with his numerous legal challenges. His recent mugshot appeared on a Wanted for President poster, and there were t-shirts saying, Never Surrender. Lee, what was the mood like at the rally? It felt like a typical Trump

rally. He spent a lot of time talking about his accomplishments during his presidency. However, he did talk about what he called the fake and phony charges against him. He said they were ordered by current President Joe Biden. You know, we should note that there are four separate investigations being conducted by state and federal prosecutors. Towards the end of Trump's speech, he issued a 10-minute lament under a bed of music that ranged from weaponizing the FBI, the Green New Deal, and electric-powered military tanks to airports that he described as a dirty, crowded mess. You sit and wait for hours and then are notified that the plane won't leave

and they have no idea when they will, where their ticket prices have tripled, they don't have the pilots to fly the planes, they don't seek qualified air traffic controllers, and they just don't know what they're doing. Much of the speech mirrored things that we heard during his first presidential campaign, painting a picture of America in decline

and that he alone can fix it. It really felt like he was workshopping this speech before he reaches bigger stages closer to the convention next year. Lee Stubinger from South Dakota Public Broadcasting, thanks so much for being with us. Yeah, you bet. Antibiotic-resistant infections are causing more and more deaths around the world.

Experts say that by 2050, almost 10 million people a year could die from these so-called superbugs. And air pollution may be to blame. NPR's Gabriel Spitzer has been looking into research and he joins us now. Welcome. Hey, Aisha. So first, let's talk about antibiotic resistance and how it spreads. Can you give us a refresher on exactly what it is? Sure. So when someone takes an antibiotic, the meds kill off most of the bacteria, the vulnerable bacteria, but sometimes a few hardier microbes survive the antibiotic attack. And those resistant bacteria are then free to thrive and spread and cause infections that resist our best drugs. So that could look like MRSA, those really stubborn staph infections that we hear about, or souped upup versions of TB or gonorrhea.

And the thing is, antibiotics aren't only used for strep throat or an ear infection or whatever. They're also used on a gigantic scale in farming and aquaculture. So what is it that's ending up in the air? Well, it's not that antibiotics are leaking into the air and exposing people. It's the germs. So all those activities like agriculture and sewage treatment, even the handling of hospital waste, they leave behind a lot of resistant bacteria and deposit it in the soil, in the waterways. And then there's also all this free-floating genetic material from the bacteria that's mixed in with those deposits, including some that carry the genes for resistance to antimicrobials.

And those can actually spread resistance all on their own. So ultimately, that material doesn't just stay in the soil or the water. The wind can kick up particles and aerosols, and the microbes catch a ride. And once they're in the air, they can be inhaled by people. So these bacteria are basically hitchhiking on the particles of air pollution, and then that's spreading infections? Well, yeah, it's still a little unclear whether the airborne bacteria and genes are actually making people sick with antibiotic-resistant infections. But this new study basically looked at the correlation between the two and found that all over the world, higher levels of particulate air pollution seem to correspond with higher levels of antimicrobial resistant infections. And the research team, who are mostly based at a university in China, tried to control for a bunch

of other factors that might affect the resistance, things like socioeconomic status and how much people spend on healthcare. And the link was still there. But it's not to say, Ayesha, that the levels are the same everywhere. The study finds that much of Africa and South Asia seem to bear the highest burden from both the pollution and the drug-resistant infections. Now, those tend to be lower-income countries as well as the places where the data is the least complete. So how much of a problem is this? Like how much of this big global health problem is because of air pollution specifically? The study doesn't prove that pollution is causing the infections, but they found that the portion of resistance that's associated with particulate

pollution, it adds up to a big chunk of the increase in antibiotic resistance over the past couple of decades, like 12%. And that translates to about 480,000 premature deaths over that period. Wow. I mean, and that's on top of all the other well-known really nasty health effects from particulate air pollution, you know, like lung disease. Yeah, that's right. And the authors point out that this could mean that reducing air pollution is another lever to control antibiotic resistance. So if you bring down the pollution, you might get this extra benefit of reducing the spread of superbugs. That's Gabriel Spitzer of NPR Science Desk. Thank you so much, Gabriel.

You're welcome. And you can learn more about this topic and see an illustration of the flying bacteria on our Goats and Soda blog at NPR.org, right? That's exactly right. And that's a first for Saturday, September 9th, 2023. I'm Scott Simon. Jarrasco. Tomorrow on the Sunday Story, NPR's Ada Peralta brings us exclusive reporting from Nicaragua, a country where journalists have been jailed and newspapers and TV stations shuttered. The Saturday version of the podcast was produced by Andrew Craig, Milton Guevara, and Fernando Naro. Our editors are Don Clyde, Padma Rama, Ed McNulty, H.J. Mai, Dee Parvaz, Hadil Al-Shauchi, and Melissa Gray. Our director is Michael Radcliffe with engineering support from Hannah Glovna.

Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor. Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer. Jerry Holmes is our deputy managing editor. Thanks to all those people who lend their talents as well to a weekend edition. Which you can hear on the radio. Turn it on every Saturday and Sunday morning. Find your NPR stations at stations.npr.org. We'd be so happy for you to listen.