
The Looking Glass
The Looking Glass is the premier international relations podcast by The SAIS Review of International Affairs with support from The Foreign Policy Institute. Showcasing fresh, policy-relevant perspectives from professional and student experts, The Looking Glass is dedicated to advancing the debate on leading contemporary issues in world affairs.
*The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the speakers' own, and they do not represent the views or opinions of The SAIS Review of International Affairs, its Editorial Board, or its Advisory Board; the SAIS Foreign Policy Institute; SAIS; or The Johns Hopkins University.*
The Looking Glass
Lessons from the Myanmar Earthquake
Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the SAIS Review’s The Looking Glass Podcast. We are your hosts Talita Fernandes and Hantong Wu. Natural disaster relief can pose many challenges, and we have seen that they are only exacerbated by domestic conflict in the area. Since 2021, when the military deposed the democratically elected government, Myanmar has been in a brutal civil war. In the midst of this conflict, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar on March 28, complicating the relief efforts and pushing the casualties higher. To discuss the challenges a conflict-ridden area faces when natural disaster strikes, along with the particular implications for Myanmar and its latest disaster, today on the podcast, we are joined by Professor Gregory Gottlieb.
Professor Gregory Gottlieb is an expert on humanitarian aid in conflict areas. He formerly served as the director at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University and as Acting Assistant Administrator at the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In particular, he extensively participated in the US response to the 2008 Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, where ultimately, US humanitarian assistance was denied. Following the disaster, he testified on the Death, Displacement, and Humanitarian Aid to Myanmar in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Looking Glass Podcast.
Hosts: Talita Fernandes and Hantong Wu
Additional Editors: Fauvé Liggans-Hubbard and Nourane Awadallah
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