Transcript: Episode #343: On The Waterfront
Below is the complete transcript for this podcast episode. This transcript was generated using an AI transcription service and has not been reviewed by a human editor. As a result, certain words in the text may not accurately reflect the speaker's actual words. This is especially noticeable when speakers have strong accents, as AI transcription may introduce more errors in interpreting and transcribing their speech. Therefore, it is advisable not to reference this transcript in any article or document without cross-referencing the timestamp to ensure the accuracy of the guest's precise words.
Host 00:00
I'm really excited to bring you this upcoming interview with a very special guest. You'll hear her discussing all the great and courageous work that she is currently engaged in. If you feel inspired to help her continue these efforts, please consider making a donation earmarked for her projects, or you can give a general donation that will support the wider movement in Myanmar, our ongoing support has been very helpful and appreciated by many Burmese struggling during these dark days, simply go to Insight myanmar.org/donation to contribute today or stay tuned to the end of this episode to hear More options. Now, let's hear from that guest herself.
Brang Nan 02:20
Hello, welcome To Insight Myanmar Podcast. My name is Brang Nan, and I'll be your host for this episode on March 28 2025 Myanmar experienced its most powerful earthquake in nearly a century, a 7.7 magnitude quake that struck near zakain and manli region, and the disaster resulted in over 5300 deaths and more than 10,000 injuries across the country. And since the earthquake we here at inside Myanmar has been following the aftermath of the earthquake and the humanitarian crisis that followed. And we've been talking to people on the ground to figure out what happened and what is needed in terms of support in these different regions. And today, we have guests from the inlay region. Inlay is known for its villages and floating gardens, but it also take, has taken quite a significant devastation in the area. We have Chloe today, who is who is a native to the inlet region and who has been working tirelessly in the recovery effort since the hook way to happen.
Chloe 03:50
Um, yeah. Thank you for having me here today. And hello everyone. My name is Chloe, and I was born and raised in the township where the inley lake is in, and I currently work full time at a social enterprise, but right now I'm volunteering on the ground in indie Lake, helping with earthquake relief supports, and so over the past Few weeks, I've been working with local communities in like raising funds to help in rebuilding homes for families who've lost their homes and everything in the earthquake. And today, I'm here to share the experiences in in ili lake after the earthquake and my volunteering stories in Italy, like to talk about what's really happening in Italy, what the people are going through, and how all of us, like local communities and local groups together, can support them in um. Um, in rebuilding their lives and their homes.
Brang Nan 05:03
Right? And we thank you so much for coming on and giving your time to, you know, talk about the aftermath of the earthquake, but before we get into that, you know, because we have for inside Myanmar, we have listeners from all over the world. You know, international audience and the Myanmar das Oprah, who has left the country. Can you tell the audience a little bit about what Inle Lake is like? Because, you know, it's like an iconic place in Myanmar. You know, it's a tourist attraction for both local and international.
Chloe 05:48
Inle Lake is basically one of the most famous tourist attractions in all of Myanmar, where you can see a lake filled with houses or houses over the water and and then there are some like the there are like rowers in The Lake. Their main income comes from the comes from the lake as well, because most of them are fishermen, and that's their main career. It is also one of the, I think it is also the second biggest lake in Lake all over the country, before the call in 2021 it is. It was. It was a developing city and a township where we have, like more than 1000 tourists every, every three months. And it was very peaceful. And it was, you know.
Brang Nan 07:02
Yes, yeah. I mean, it lay as as a local myself. It's, it's, it's a place where, whenever we have time off or vacation, inlay is one of the top three destination that comes up into our head, whether we'll go to Bucha or it's inlay or Mandalay. So it's such a such a significant and place and such a beautiful place. And you were mentioning that it's a place where people row their boats, standing up on the back of the boat, with with your light, with their leg. And it's a, it's such an important place culturally, so it's, it's so devastating that this earthquake has hit this area. Can you tell us, like, where you were when and when the earthquake hit, and what was like, the initial reaction in the area.
Chloe 08:02
Yeah, when, on the 28th of March, I was at home with my family, and we were just doing some daily activities like before, but when, just after having lunch, and then I was doing my dishes, and that was when that disaster happened, I thought it was women. It's because of the conditions in here. I thought it was bombing.
Brang Nan 08:31
Oh, you thought it was, you thought it was a bomb, yeah.
Chloe 08:35
And, and then my mom was like, I don't think it's a bomb. I think it's an earthquake, and then we just run out of the house, and the I literally thought the world was crumbling. I've never experienced like this before in my life. And after the first shock, I thought every thing was settled down. But then there's a second shock, and that's when I realized that there will be more damages around the around Sakai with because that's the that's the episode, that might be the epicenter. That's what I guessed. And that was true. And just after 15 minutes, I checked the internet, and then I saw the bail genes collapsed at that time, I didn't know that in Lee will be affected that much, that much, because I never knew, like I know, it never came To my mind. And when I when my cousin in Italy, she called me, and then she was like, some houses in the village, like, has been, uh, taken down by the earthquake into the water. So, yeah, I couldn't even believe what I just heard and what. I just saw on the internet.
Brang Nan 10:03
Yeah, it is. It is so telling that in the beginning of, you know, the experience of you experiencing the earthquake, it is telling that you thought it was a bomb.
Chloe 10:18
It's a bit stupid, but that's because all the conditions lead to that one solution, because that's what they are doing in the country right now.
Brang Nan 10:27
Yeah, that's, I think it's so true to the experience of people who are still living inside the country, like you and I, this, there's a there's there is this normalcy, normalization of this experience of like bombs going off in in Yangon, for example. And especially during 2022 2023 there were more frequent like bombs that are going off in different neighborhood, and at one point you become, you know, normalized to that. So we will go back to the earthquake. But have there been like bombs going off, like bombing and fighting where close to where you are?
Chloe 11:18
Yeah, in our township, yes, in some village, in some villages in yangshui Township, they are, there are some fightings going on for a long time now. And also they are some refugees in our township from around, from LA Jo and LIGO. They were, they are. They were all gathering in our township. So, yeah, I can, I can say that they were, they are fighting around my area, yeah, but we have never heard of any bombing.
Brang Nan 11:59
I see, but it was the fear that it that is possible, right? Yeah, that the war is close to you.
Chloe 12:07
Yeah. It's just emotional insecurity.
Brang Nan 12:11
Yeah, can you so? So this, this experience of, like, earthquake, you know, something that you have never experienced in your life, this happened, and you were saying, you know, you were looking at social media and finding out that you know areas like sakhain has been hit so but then when you find out that you know it, it hits so close to home in inlay, What was like the first, first day, or first couple of days with, like, in terms of, like, going into the lake, to to, you know, visit, like, effective villages, like, what, what? What were you? What were you seeing in the lake?
Chloe 12:54
Because it wasn't like anything I've ever witnessed in my life. It was very when I, when I went to my not many of the many of the effective villages myself, like what I saw was distractions on every corner of the lake, like roofs floating in the lake and houses turned upside down, like they had been literally picked up and then dropped like it's a try. But what's even more painful to see than the than the physical distraction, was the emotional weight, I think, because I saw people crying for losing their family members, because it all happened in just seconds, and they didn't, they didn't even know that they will lose who they love, like, in those some seconds, and some people were just like, sitting silently in disbelief, in their like, temporary tense, um, yeah, staring at like, what used to be their homes like it was very heartbreaking, because we also, like, experienced floods in 2024 at that time, the people could flee to monasteries or go to or some places as a temporary shelter, but this time around, there was like nowhere safe to run, because, um, even those like, um, sacred places were destroyed. Um, some were destroyed completely, and some were just, uh, partly destroyed. But it they were not a very safe place to, like, accommodate all the earthquake victims, because I don't see like, any security on that building that can hold a lot of people. So it left like, um. People completely exposed, physically and emotionally, and yeah, it's very heartbreaking to watch. And that's when I realized that I need to do something for it, like, even though it's a very small effort.
Brang Nan 15:16
Yeah, yeah. So as you were saying, there's a sense of like, there's nowhere to run to escape from this so there's a sense of like, even with the flood, there was, you know, safety, the places of safety, where you can go. But with this earthquake, even the houses you have left has crumbled in front of you. So there's a sense of like, nowhere to run, which is devastating. So what, what did you end up doing in terms of, like, trying to, you know, help the people, and trying to, like, start to pick up the pieces. As to say, yeah, what was, what was like the first couple of days, like in the lake, and what were you and your your friends or your organization were doing in in trying to help people?
Chloe 16:11
Um, in the first couple of days, we were confused, because all the news on social medias and all the news that I'm hearing at home, it was very overwhelming, and it it was very overwhelming to a point that I couldn't even decide what to do. And there were also rumors that there will be some aftershocks, even if it's true or not, and that was worrying me the most, because if there were aftershocks, I can't imagine how that will affect the already affected areas, like in the Zag and Mendeley. And so it was. It was a very confusing couple of days where I cannot decide what to do, but when I went to in Lee, I think that's where my inspiration comes from, like to do something, to do something Like fundraising or something like that. Yeah, and I think on 30th of March, we decided to do a fundraising project for in the lake.
Brang Nan 17:31
Yeah, I see, I think we were all kind of in the same boat in terms of, like, right after the earthquake, like, there's we didn't know what to do, like, where to begin, you know, where to start, in terms of, like, relief effort, and I think we, I was following the news of social media, you know, and what's happening in Mandalay and Zakai Were also so intense, you know that we also didn't know that it may was being affected as well. So in the in the first couple of days that you guys, you know, went out to see the villages and the destruction that the earthquake has caused, what was the what were some of the urgent needs that people had, and what were they saying that they needed help with?
Chloe 18:28
Yeah, um, when I asked around in the villages, they said, they all said the same thing, like they just want a home back because it's not, it's not very ideal to just settle on the temporary tents because it's, it's, it's like a makeshift tents built over To my views and sometimes I shared by like two or three families, or even four families, if it's a very big tent, and they are not solid structures, they're held together by what people could find. So these shelters offer very little protection, both from the weather and the environment, and with the rainy season just around the corner, people are like incredibly vulnerable right now, and you can feel the urgency in their eyes, like in rebuilding homes, because these temporary tents, they won't survive heavy rains, and we're not sure if those families will be exposed again to whatever disaster we cannot see. Yeah, so all they were wanting was to have their home. Back to what they wanted to rebuild homes. So they said, rather than the rice, water bottles and stuff like that, they just want money. They just want to collect money as much as possible, and they want to rebuild it themselves, even though there's no support from any other organizations? Yeah, that's what they said to me when I went to the to that one village.
Brang Nan 20:27
I see. So it's been four weeks, about four weeks now, since the earthquake. Have you seen any like development in terms of people being able to rebuild some of the home in the region, or what? What is the situation like since then?
Chloe 20:53
Um, yeah, there are, there were some. There were some people and families who were rebuilding their homes, but in the first, like one or two weeks, people who can rebuild their homes, like those who can afford to rebuild, Not the not someone who has lost everything, like they were starting to rebuild. I don't want to say they are rich, but they are in a comfortable state to rebuild their homes. So they started rebuilding in the first and in the first couple of weeks. But they are also still some people who are who do not have, like, enough money to just buy materials and stuff like that. So it depends. It really depends on the it really depends on the village. It really depends on the families to talk about the rebuilding process.
Brang Nan 22:01
Yeah, I see in terms of like help for the region. And as you said, the most urgent need for majority is to rebuild the homes. Has there been any like international aid that has come in, or like, from, even from the military government to help what's going on in Italy since the earthquake.
Chloe 22:36
No, unfortunately, because there were some support from the international NGOs and then international communities like Save the Children and World Food Program. They were delivering foods and some magazines and stuff like that, but not for the, not for the rebuilding things, not for not to rebuild the homes and for the military government. I think I don't even have to answer because I think it will be, you know, we know better than anyone that it will be naive to believe that international aid going through them will truly reach the people who need it. You know, there'sbeen no real support or assistance from the military government, so yeah, it's only us, the people, who can help restore our communities. Yeah, but despite that, we've made some progress in the earthquake response. So far we've me and my friends, we've secured places and support to rebuild like 10 houses into different villages, and then some of the construction already underway.
Brang Nan 23:57
Yeah. I mean, yeah. I think in other interviews that we have done since the earthquake has also have the same kind of like we reached the same kind of conclusion, that is that the military government is basically absent from absent from the urgent, you know, relief effort and the rebuilding effort. And I think the majority of the people also, you know, remembering what had happened during the cyclone Nagas and the mismanagement of international AIDS back then. And we are kind of seeing that by pattern being repeated with this earthquake as well, which is, which is sad, because in any kind of like disaster after something, you know, I. Disastrous as this happened. It's the government's primary duty to help rebuild the country. But you know, as you and I know both, know, the people who are acting as the government is more intent on destroying what what is there, rather than to rebuild what has been destroyed. So in terms of like, trying to find funding to rebuild these homes and in lay Lake region, what, what? What? What has been your like, your strategy and how have you been going about to raise money?
Chloe 25:43
Um, because we did fundraising for in Lee and Yang Suu township when there was a flood in 2024 so, um, we have, like, not that many experience, but we have some experiences in fundraising things. And honestly, it all started from a place of like, helplessness, like because none of us could just sit and watch what's in front of our eyes. So yeah, a few friends and I got together and said, What can we do? And yeah, we started raising funds from our like personal networks and connections. And later we were spreading awareness on social media, and then we were delivering support directly to the families and then communities that are in need and so, but we are not part of any official group, or we are not under any organization. We just, like regular people, care about the people. So, yeah, so, but you know, there's not only us, there were some. There were some youth and local charity groups. They have also stepped up. And these are the people on the ground like doing the work every day. It's these local efforts that are carrying the weight of the response, because, yeah, unfortunately, like I said, before, international organizations and Aung NGOs have, like, had limited access because of the military government. So in terms of strategy, we don't, we don't really have, like strategic planning team, like any other organization, it just, it's just our ideas on how to help and how to spend the funds that we raised for the people in need. So at first, we we were supporting every every family is in every villages for for them, like some money is not very much. It's just 50,000 for one family. But later, we realized that building a house, rebuilding a house will be more effective and then more efficient. It will be more efficient way to use the fund that we raised. So that's when we decided to do the rebuilding project.
Brang Nan 28:39
Yeah, I see, of course, since the, you know, since the earthquake has happened, we at inside Myanmar, through our organization better Burma, has also been very active in, you know, raising fund and providing humanitarian support. And, yeah, so we have also, then, since the since the earthquake, we have also been able to send some fund to India region to rebuild some of the homes and Klaw Kayla village, and we were able to fix some of the homes in the LA region since, since the earthquake, through the funds that we have raised here. So since the earthquake, you know, we had inside Myanmar through our organization, but at Burma has been, you know, able to raise fund for the relief effort for the earthquake, and we were actually able to send money to the inlay region to for rebuilding some of the homes there, buying solar lights that are needed. And I. On like through our fundraising effort, we can also, you know, get in touch withChloe to get Chloe what, what is urgently needed in the area. So please consider donating. Hope we can hope, hope we can help you. Through the money that we have, we've been able to raise, and, yeah, and not just any region, we've also donated to, you know, Mendeley and zag and working with the local volunteer groups just like yours to get the help that the locals actually need. And and that's why it's so valuable to talk to someone like you who actually seen what's on the ground and know exactly what is needed. Because I know that there were a period of a time where there were a lot of people from Yangon just going up with just water bottles and, you know, needs that they things that they thought it's needed in the area, but then people in the area is like, yeah, we have enough water bottles. We actually need, like, construction materials. So like, and because, you know, these villages in Italy, lake are on water, right? And I have seen through some of my friends Facebook page that they actually need, like, really long bamboos in order to rebuild some of the homes, because that bamboo goes right into the water and, you know, right into the earth. Like, what so is that it's not a typical rebuilding kind of process. And I've also seen like some of the houses in inlay Lake were like, kind of leaning to one side, but you in some cases, they were able to put them back up in a way. So what, what is like rebuilding process? Like for, for, for the homes in the inlet Lake region.
Chloe 32:03
Um, so, to be honest, rebuilding homes in Italy is very it was very new to me as well, because to rebuild a home, there were bamboo, bamboos deep down the water, and you have to pull that, pull those bamboos out in some typical way. I don't know how to describe that, but you have to use a chain. You have to use a new bamboo to just to just take them out. And it takes, like, a lot of time, like, to take it out, because we can, you, we cannot use any machines. We just need. We they only use, like manpower to bamboo, and that's what one or one of the process. And when you put the when you put the bamboo in the water again, it needs a lot of manpower, because you cannot just use a hammer to just put the bamboo in the water. You know, you have to step on the separate bamboo, like maybe five or six strong men. They have to step on the bamboo to go, to go into the water. You know, I have a video of it. I wish I can show you.
Brang Nan 33:30
I see. So it's, it's a somewhat complicated, yeah, it is effort that needs kind of like local knowledge to rebuild this.
Chloe 33:39
So, yeah, there's a saying, like, the some construction workers on the land cannot walk like, like the construction workers on the water, because it's completely different. I see, yeah. And for the, for the houses that are leaning into one side, like you asked, they use a machine, like the machine and a chain to just pull that back up, to pull the house back up. And they have to use some wood and then bamboo to just support, support the site where the house is leaning so it is also a complicated process as well. I just, like, found out, like week ago, when I went, when I went around the lake, and then discovered what they were doing in with the houses.
Brang Nan 34:36
Yeah, I see you mentioned earlier that you know, the impact of the earthquake, obviously, has taken a toll on the structures of the buildings and houses, but it has also taken a toll psychologically on people, what kind of what kind of. Like trauma that you have seen on with the people that you have interacted Yeah, what kind of what kind of issues that are they going through, and what kind of help are they getting for that?
Chloe 35:15
Of course, they are also emotional, like insecurities around them. Because when there was one time I met with a home owner, and then they the previous house. It was in the water, and then they decided to build it on the land next to it, because we have, like, very small lands on any lake. So I asked, Why are you building it on the land instead of the water? And then they said, Wecannot afford to lose another house because we built it on the water. And they decided to build it on the land next to it. So it is, you know, it's very heartbreaking to hear that, because it lay isfamous for the houses over the water, and that's one of the significant tourist attraction. And then hearing that building a house over the water is not safe anymore is at that moment, I felt hopeless, and then helplessness came into me directly. I didn't want that to want that to happen, and I also wish that there could be some architects. Or structural engineers who can, like, build a, how, a house over the water with the resistant plan to any natural disaster, it will be, it will be, like, very great to see that happening. Yeah, so it was one of the traumatic moment of the local people. And another one is, you know, in, I don't know if you've ever been to a house in in the lake, if you, if you stay on the house, if there's a boat passing by, the House would shake a little bit, not very much. So even me. I was, I was sitting on that house, and then it was, I don't know if it was really shaking, or if it was me, like, after effect of the of the earthquake, I started to run with the with the homeowners, and they also thought that it was an earthquake. So it is, yeah, it is also, you know, it is also one of the emotional things that that's been happening in the lake with these people.
Brang Nan 38:10
Yeah, yeah. What you're describing, you know, some kind of PTSD, right? And something that, some something that people will carry for for a while with them. I feel it's only been, it's only been about four weeks since the earthquake, so I don't, we don't know how long some of these psychological impacts are going to carry within the these, you know, in lay villages, yeah, it's, it's so tough to hear stories of, it's so, so tough to hear what you are describing in terms of both, You know, people being afraid to rebuild on water, yeah, in which case we will potentially lose, you know, cultural heritage in the region, but but also this sense of insecurity that will follow them for however long in while you are, you know, interacting with, you know, these villages and when, when you are out in the lake, you know, helping people. What is there any instances that give you? You know, hope, you know, in sense of solidarity, in sense of community while, while you'reout there.
Chloe 39:45
Um, in terms of hope, I can say the people of inley Lake, they never lose hope. They all are like willing to just rebuild their. Houses as soon as possible. And then, you know, they all are also like helping each other out. In one village that I visited, they were, they were starting to rebuild some homes, and their process is very amazing, because for the for the houses that hascollapsed completely, and they prioritize them and then the whole village. They build that house first, all the all the villages. They help the homeowner to build that one first, and then move on to the another, another house. So it's, it's like a collective efforts that they are doing there. And then it is very heartwarming to see that they have like, solid, they hold like, you know, they care for each other. They thought, they think about each other, and then it is very good to see that. And I hope other villages do the same as well. Because, you know, with with the collective efforts, it can build so many houses, and it can rebuild so many lives, and then emotional security as well.
Brang Nan 41:24
Well, what you have described was very heartwarming. So like in villages, collectively helping build each other's houses, one by one, taking turns almost, yeah, I see, you know, it reminds me of this saying that we've been saying since the coup, which is in Burmese, you know, naruba, Naru, Ashi, you know, we only have ourself to rely on. And seems like that has been like, you know, proven true again and again, over, over the past, past five years, yeah and and you said, like, yeah, like communities relying on each other to support each other. Yeah, I think not just in this rebuilding process, but, you know, I remember, like during COVID, we also had that sense of community and like, you know, trying to help each other through difficult times. And I think thatalso carry us through the, you know, the first year of the coup, during the protests, and, you know, the resistance that is continuing. There's a deep sense of, like, you know, we have to do it ourselves if we want to get things done. I want to ask you something about resilience. I don't know how you feel about this word, which has been used many times to describe Myanmar people over the past five years. You know, having to injure the COVID, then the coup and all these disasters that came afterwards, you know, inflation and economic crisis. Do you feel? Do you feel that we are resilient people? How do you feel being described as resilient? Because I know some of my friends who are living through this time are sort of like getting tired of being called resilient.
Chloe 43:48
No, I think, personally, I feel like it's a very good thing that we're being called resilient, because I believe that no other country can do this, I guess because we've been through so much, like, for, like, I think it's almost five or six years since COVID and COVID and people who are surviving until this day, it's, I want to say, like, it's a very you all are doing a very good job, even if you are in the Country, or even if you are outside the country, I know they are like they are. There will be so many challenges like living in the country or living outside the country as well. So I don'tmind being called resilient. I like it.
Brang Nan 44:41
Glad to hear you know, glad to hear it from somebody you know, hopeful like you. Because I think there's a sense where some of you know, some of us, are getting tired of going through these like you know, you. One disaster after the other, but it's, it's, it's very refreshing to hear that you're proud to be called resilient, and that whatever way we can, we need to try to survive. We must try to survive. You know, to Yeah. It's, it's so refreshing to hear.
Chloe 45:21
Yeah. And I also believe that there's a there will also be a price of be of being resilient. It will come around, because what goes around comes around, right? And I don't think I want to lose hope, and I I want to encourage everyone who is tired of being called resilient, to not lose hope and to not like discourage from from the outside world that you're hearing so, yeah, it will be paid off some days.
Brang Nan 46:01
We hope so. We hope so. This, this might be unrelated to the earthquake, but I think for for anyone you know who is still in the country, I think you know, including myself, who is still in the inside the country, it's a relevant question to ask you as well that you know, over the past five years, you know, you have probably experienced this as well, which is that Many of ours, my friends and people from the community, especially the youth, has left the country for security reason, for economic Reason, and but you are still sticking around. Why?
Chloe 47:06
Maybe is because of my family, and then I do have respect for the people who left the country and and the but, you know, I personally chose to stick around, and even if I was, I was, I was away for like six months, like Last year, I was outside the country, and then the flood in in the lake happened, and it was also a disaster as well. It affected the the area I am in, and then my family had to flee because our houses were affected by the flood. So and that was, that was the time I realized that I cannot, you know if, when the flood was happening, like we cannot call that the the internet has been cut off in the area that my family is in, and I cannot call them. I cannot text them. And it was, it was a very, you know, it was a very sad moment that when you cannot do anything for them or for the people around the area. So, yeah, that's when I realized that I'm, I need to stick around here as long as my family is here. Yeah, I think that was one of my motivation.
Brang Nan 48:50
I see, yeah, it's, it's probably, it's probably the same reason for me as well. And, you know, I think for me, like I'm a visual storyteller. Before I started hosting podcasts, more of a visual person, as a as a visual storyteller, I felt, I feel like, you know, there's this, there's a need to witness what's what the country is going through, one way or the other, no matter how difficult it has been lately, and before we we come into this. You know, in interview, when we were preparing for this interview, one of the things that we needed to talk about was electricity, right? Whether, whether you have enough, you know, battery power in your laptop to have this interview even, can you tell us a little bit about the power power outage that. Situation in the in your region, because I think people outside the country sometimes might not know that the kind of like daily struggles that we have to get around in order to live, you know, quote, unquote, a normal life. What's electricity situation in like around Inle region?
Chloe 50:24
Before the earthquake, we get like, I think, four hours a day of electric city, four hours, yeah, I see in a day. And then there were no like, there's no like, exact schedule, like when it will be out, or when it will be when it will come back, and stuff like that. So we cannot guess, and we can when, when the power comes back in, we have to do everything like at the same time, if you, for instance, like, if you are late to put your clothes in the washing machine, and you put it just before the power goes out, and you can smell, you can smell the clothes stinking because it's been left in the washing machine for so long while waiting for the electricity to come back. So yeah, that's, that's the daily life that we have in Myanmar.
Brang Nan 51:37
So yeah, is is it? Is it any better now or worse after the earthquake?
Chloe 51:43
Um, after the earthquake, we got cut off of the electricity for like five or six days, no electricity at all. Wow, yeah, it was, you know, you you can't complain, because there are people who arefacing worse than us not having electricity. So yeah, and now we have electricity, but like, like, I said, we cannot guess when it's gonna go out or when it's gonna come in. So yeah, it's, you know, it's one of the survival skills living in Myanmar.
Brang Nan 52:24
Yeah, I can, I can totally relate to that. You know, fitting our life schedules around the schedule of electricity that since the turn of the year, since January, like even in Yangon, where where I am, you know, the power cut has gotten worse. And there was, after the earthquake, we had about four hours of electricity. And then my 24 hour outage for for a couple of days as well. Yeah, certain things, things has not gotten better and and even even after the earthquake, it's probably gone worse. Right now we're back into like a kind of a regular schedule in Yangon, where I can kind of guess when the power is going to come and when the power is going to go out. But yeah, it's, it's, it's our daily struggle of being inside the country, I guess. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So, despite everything you know, my that's why I want to thank you for taking your time to talk to us. You know, despite the disasters that you are seeing in your region, despite the power cuts, despite everything, to come and talk to us, and, you know, tell us what's going on in the inlay region. And you being involved in, you know, going through this, going through this experience together with your local community in the is there anything that, like kind of you have learned from this experience? Is there any takeaways? Is there any lessons from from from going through this?
Chloe 54:41
Yeah, of course there are. Of course, there are a lot of lessons that I've learned, but those are the lessons that need to be learned by the government. I think because we have no likeimmediate response to this kind of. Us that we have no accurate plan. We have no rescue plan or anything like that. We have we had to, as you can see, we had to wait for the International Rescue team to be able to rescue properly, and then all the local rescue team, they were trying their best with so little support or equipment, they were risking their lives, and it was, you know, it was very heartbreaking to see our local rescue teams suffering so much and they couldn't fulfill their duties because of lack of equipment or the information or the techniques that that were to be supported by the government. So that's one of the lessons that I've learned, also from the people's point of view, I think we need to be more we need to dive more into the emergency response as well. Because from from what I heard and from what I've seen on the internet, most of the people, they don't know what to do when these kind of things happened somewhere, staying in the house somewhere, like they were. They have that superstitions when, when you run during the earthquake, and when you fall you you will have something that happened to you and stuff like that. And I think it's it's the time of the I think it's the time to let go of those superstitions and then and just do what you need to do to keep yourself safe and to keep yourself alive when these kind of things happen here and yeah, I think that's those two lessons Need to be learned by our people and the government, but they will not learn. I mean, the government.
Brang Nan 57:28
You're not you're hopeful about the future, but you're not so hopeful that the military government will learn anything from this. Yeah, I think, yeah, there's an aspect of, you know, education and knowledge sharing about natural disaster that has not happened in our country. I mean, I think you know, there are many of us who didn't even know that we are. The country itself is situated on the, you know, this very earthquake prone, you know, geographically, you know, on these plates, you know. And like even the term Zakai fault line, for example, for me to say it, honestly, I'm hearing it like for the first time in my life, you know, and we live, our country is saturated on such, you know, dangerous ground, and we had no education of like, you know, how, how to appropriately respond to earthquake or, you know, there is no lessons in school that I remember ever being taught about how to respond to earthquake. And also, of course, you know, there's a what comes with the authoritarian government is a lack of regulation in terms of, like, building and, you know, building codes, and you know the materials that are being used in these buildings to be able to withstand, you know, earthquake or any disaster. I think there's a lot lacking from the governmental side as you as you have, you know, as you have pointed out, but Yeah, and like you said, I feel like the lessons have to be learned by the people rather than the government. Yeah, because, because, at the end of the day, we will have to end, we will end up, you know, trying to help ourselves.
Chloe 59:37
Like what we're doing right now. So if I don't know if all the listeners have heard about the about inlay Lake and it's earthquake, but if you are, if you you know are planning to help us and inlay lake in some way. I think I would suggest the most effective way to support right now is through direct financial donations to the to the communities and then to the families who've lost their home and because with collective funds, they can buy construction materials for for rebuilding, and then they can, they can rebuild their homes faster if there's enough fund And enough materials. So yeah, and local charities, and then groups like ours and some other donors, they are using these funds to rebuild homes as quickly as possible before the rain was in the conditions here. So yeah, and we've already started building like 10 houses as a group, and with more support, I believe we can do even more. It's also important to like keep sharing these kind of stories to international and local communities to help people understand that in Lee is it isn't just a tourist attraction, it is a community full of life, culture, resilience and love and historical places. So the more people know, the more we can build pressure for greater support, maybe even from international communities. And if you are in a place where you cannot donate, you can just share these, these stories, or these or these podcasts to to anywhere like because it it helps much more than you think, and the more people know what's happening in Italy, the more likely it is that more support and assistance will come, I believe, from inside the country and beyond. Yeah, and thank you so much for listening like it was. It is a very valuable podcast with having a chance to share and raise awareness of in the lake and its earthquake through inside Myanmar. So yeah, I, as the people of indie Lake, we thank inside Myanmar for bringing up this topic as well.
Brang Nan 1:02:43
We thank you for your Yeah. We thank you for your resilience. We thank you for your yeah work, and you know, dedication to trying to help your your people, and you know, sharing your story on this platform. And I think, and you have mentioned the moon soon is coming around the corner, which is which makes this rebuilding project quite urgent, because we are closing in on the end of April, and you know, within about a month, we will have rainy season coming, and all those people who have lost their home will need to be in a safe, safe place before before the rain comes. So any help that you can give is very valuable. And as I have mentioned before, you know our organization Better Burma has been able to help people like Chloe directly. So please consider donating and helping people of inlay rebuild their homes and rebuild their lives. Thank you, Chloe. Thank you.
Host 1:04:18
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