On April 25, an 8.1 magnitude earthquake shook the Katmandu Valley in Nepal, causing over 8000 deaths, countless more injuries, and triggering mountain avalanches which sent snow careening down the slopes of Mount Everest and burying the human settlements below. The days that followed Nepal would see a disjointed international rescue force arrive in the country as global geopolitical tensions spilled into the politics of local disaster relief.This week on Sinica, we take a look back at the Nepalese earthquake through the perspective of two foreign correspondents who traveled to Nepal and reported on the disaster first hand: Julie Makinen, reporter for the Los Angeles Times' Beijing bureau, and Tomasz Sajewicz, head of the Beijing Bureau for Polish Public Radio. Our two guests are joined for this discussion by Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy Goldkorn and David Moser. Listen online, or download this show as a standalone mp3 file.
Basic Account
Aaaron Freidburg, "The Sleeper Issue of 2016 is China," Politico (11 May 2015).
Wojciech Tochman, Like Eating a Stone: Surviving the Past in Bosnia, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (New York: Atlas, 2008).
Jonah Kessel, "Katmandu: Before the Quake," New York Times (27 April 2015)
David Lampton, "A tipping Point in U.S.-China Relations is Upon Us," U.S.-China Perception Monitor (pub. 11 May 2015, originally given at the Carter Center on 7 May 2015).
Daniel Lynch, ed. and trans., China's Futures: PRC Elites Debate Economics, Politics, and Foreign Policy (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015).
Cherie Chan, "Baidu to Digitally 'Restore' Historic Sights in Katmandu," New York Times: Sinosphere Blog (12 May 2015).