🇮🇩 Monster quake shakes Eastern Indonesia

Hello friends,

Nothing but bad news this week.

Thankfully, this week’s Reformasi with the brilliant Thinzar Shunlei Yi on all things Myanmar and the region is an extra good one. As always with Myanmar, the stakes are high and the costs are higher but the people like Shunlei working so hard to get the word out across the world are true inspirations to the rest of us. Here on Spotify, YouTube or wherever else you like to listen:

Erin Cook

Terrible news out of the Eastern Indonesia province in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) early Saturday morning, with a 7.7 Richter quake hitting. A tsunami warning had been issued but was recalled later in the morning. At least 53 have been killed, with hundreds more injured and thousands of people displaced. 7.7 is a chunker and was followed by thousands of aftershocks across the weekend, the disaster mitigation agency said as per Reuters.

One thing that really stood out to me was that, about 45 minutes after the quake hit, the posting of videos and photos stopped. Just radio silence from NTT. That’s a combination of the hard work of immediate evacuation of communities but also the fragility of communication infrastructure.

Things are back up and running now, and we’ve gotten a much clearer picture, though the true human toll is unknown. Medical teams are desperate for more help, especially in the super remote areas of the province. “We heard that medical assistance would be provided, but nothing has arrived yet. We hope that assistance will arrive soon,” Rista Mari, a spokesperson for the Ruteng Regional General Hospital, told the BBC.

In Flores, Floresa Media editor-in-chief Herry Kabut told the BBC that residents had established their own evacuation posts and were now desperate for help. “So far, many basic necessities such as [basic foodstuffs] and clean water are in great demand. People have no idea where to evacuate. There’s been no government advice. Many have fled to the hills and are starving,” he said.

I think it’s worth underscoring that so many communities across this area feel, if not abandoned, at least ignored by the government in Jakarta. The rest of the country is running fundraising efforts to get the people of NTT what they need — but not much word yet from Jakarta. Which tracks with the flooding last year in Sumatra that destroyed so much of the northern part of the island and saw those communities all but abandoned by the Prabowo Subianto government until the outrage fostered by other provinces got loud enough. It’s not right, and it’s clearly a function of that government rather than an outlier.

I have a dilettante approach to earthquakes — I have enough interest to know there have been many recently, but not enough smarts to notice my noticing bias. I gave it a google. The USGS, thankfully one of the few US agencies still functioning, says in this evergreen post that you may sense that there are way more quakes happening than usual, but that does not mean that the Big One is imminent.

‘According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 16 major earthquakes in any given year. That includes 15 earthquakes in the magnitude 7 range and one earthquake magnitude 8.0 or greater. In the past 40-50 years, our records show that we have exceeded the long-term average number of major earthquakes about a dozen times,’ USGS reports.

So, as terrifying as it is, it seems like we shouldn’t be anticipating an existential tear somewhere along the Indonesian and/or Filipino archipelagos.

Though I will say, there have been at least two other very large quakes elsewhere in the country over the weekend. These coincided with the Independence Day celebrations on Monday, which are consistently ‘let them eat cake’ moments for the government. This has prompted more than a few tongue in cheek, what has Indonesia done to deserve this? type jokes.

One student and the alleged shooter are dead after an early morning attack inside the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School in the southern Philippines yesterday. Such awful news so soon after the school shooting in Thailand.

The assailant, also a student, livestreamed the attack. The video spread quickly yesterday, and the frames in which he walks into a classroom, where you can see students sitting at their desks and facing their teacher, are extraordinary. Terrifying, dark business.

“When we heard the first gunshot, we all went silent. I was thinking it was just another drill,” a Grade 7 student told the Straits Times. “Then we heard more. Our teacher asked us to lock the door, and we placed tables and chairs against the door. We hid and waited.”

There’s still quite a bit we don’t know here yet, and more will come out today, I imagine. But for now, here’s a very interesting piece from Rappler speaking to education advocates who say more needs to be done in schools to prevent bullying and increase security and safety measures.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin played host to Min Aung Hlaing this week. Min Aung Hlaing has certainly been busy travelling the neighbourhood, but this trip further afield to Moscow must be a special one for him, given how important Russia’s been for the military’s tight grip on the country.

  The pair have pledged all sorts of

  economic cooperation in recent years, including the development of a nuclear power plant somewhere in Myanmar. I think, much like Min Aung Hlaing’s previous visits elsewhere and his potential upcoming one to Cambodia, it’s less about the specifics and more about being received in capitals as the President of Myanmar. As always, we’re not falling for it!

• Kyaw Zwar Minn, Myanmar’s former ambassador to the United Kingdom, has gone on trial for trespassing after refusing to leave a diplomatic residence following the 2021 coup, the Guardian reported last week. He had been locked out of the embassy for his continued support of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League of Democracy government.

  “The military authorities could not lawfully terminate his licence at the address. Nor could they legitimately use the property,” Kyaw Zwar Minn’s lawyer, David Perry, told the court as per the Guardian. Too true.

  “Having been granted permission to reside at Myanmar House as the ambassador, his refusal to vacate the diplomatic premises after he was removed from that position means that he is guilty of the offence of diplomatic trespass,” prosecutor Louise Oakley said in court. Booo, hissss.

• Bit of a backfire here from China’s diplomatic mission in Yangon. In a social media post commemorating the surrender of Japan and the beginning of the end of Myanmar’s terrible wartime experience, the embassy is accused of attempting to spread anti-Japanese sentiment, Myanmar Now reports.

  A quick look at responses sees commenters noting Japan has tried to hurt them in decades, but China is actively supporting the military dictatorship. ‘Why are you telling us to hate Japan? Do Myanmar people even like China?’ one user posted, as per the outlet.

  “For many people in Myanmar, such historical references inevitably invite comparisons with the present. This creates an obvious credibility problem for Beijing,” Ye Myo Hein, a US-based political analyst, said.