CNN
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In the Pacific island nation of Samoa, residents have been grappling with rolling blackouts for weeks that have plunged villages into darkness and caused major disruptions to businesses and daily life.

On Upolu, the nation’s most populous island frequented by tourists for its white sand beaches, some have reverted to using kerosene lamps at night and are struggling to keep their food frozen – as rolling power outages leave them without electricity for hours each day.

Shelley Burich, who lives on the outskirts of the capital, Apia, said the power has been out at her place one to two nights each week, forcing them to use solar torches, lanterns and candles.

Keeping frozen food safe to eat has proved a challenge, Burich told CNN: “We’ve lost quite a bit of food and had to throw things away.” But she said they’ve learned to adjust.

“It’s just about having dinner early and we go to bed early” she said. “We’ve just learnt to adapt and cope.”

Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa declared a 30-day state of emergency on Monday, acknowledging the “significant hardship” the crisis has had on households, businesses and essential services.

Power outages are not unusual for Samoa’s 215,000 population, who often face disruptions from cyclones churning through the Pacific. But it’s rare to see island-wide blackouts reoccur over such long periods of time as has been seen in recent weeks.

Officials say there are a multitude of reasons: mechanical failures at a power station, faulty underground cables, extensive damage from a recent storm and the significant surge in demand for power over the past two years.

Fiamē said the government’s power provider, the Electric Power Corporation, has had to introduce power rationing on Upolu since March 16 after three key generators failed.

Meanwhile, power workers are racing to repair the cable lines and five large electricity generators are expected to arrive on Saturday as a temporary solution, with permanent generators expected in August.

The prime minister warned the crisis could result in a 16% drop in gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic output, this year due to the “severe disruptions.”

Chamber of Commerce President Fa’aso’otauloa Sam Saili called the power situation a “disaster” for businesses. And it’s not just the missed days of productivity.

“The damage in equipment is very significant. 84% of our membership have identified this as a major issue,” Fa’aso’otauloa said, which could leave businesses idle for long periods while waiting for repair or replacement.

Many of the country’s major manufacturers and producers have been left grappling with failing key machinery, which were damaged by power surges during the sudden and unexpected power cuts, he said.

Fa’aso’otauloa said businesses urged the government to impose the state of emergency to allow greater economic support and called for the removal of “red tape” and tariffs on key equipment to help manufacturers amid the crisis.

The economy is heavily reliant on agriculture with coconut products, forestry and fisheries among the largest export earners.

Businesses have also been forced to temporarily close because of the outages.

“Everyone is affected,” said Gary, a manager at a restaurant in Apia. “We’ve had to turn (customers) away more than once. Since the power interruptions began, we have had to close three times.”

The restaurant is fortunate to have a generator on site, but even so, the costs to operate it have more than doubled since the power cuts began.

It’s not just the cost of running the generator, suppliers are putting up their prices too, he said, calling the costs “quite significant.”

Finance Minister Lautimuia Uelese Vaaio said the state of emergency would allow Samoa’s development partners to assist with the situation. It also allows the government to implement measures to manage the energy supply, protect public health, and maintain essential services, said Prime Minister Fiamē.

The impact has hit everyone – from ordinary citizens to small businesses, schools, universities and large-scale infrastructure projects. Despite the growing frustrations, many say they have learned to adapt.

“The first few weeks were quite difficult,” said Leilani Fruean, the manager of a local ice cream shop, called Scoops, in Apia. The shop has had to purchase deep freezers, also known as chest freezers, to keep serving cones.

On days when the power is on, the shop needs to move the ice cream into deep freezers, she told CNN. “We wouldn’t be able to open them, just to keep the ice-cream hard long enough for when the power came back on.”

Fruean said the shop now has a permanent power connection, by sheer luck of being close to the wharf, which has been prioritized for power. Even so, it’s been hard to predict how each day will go.

“We can’t really afford to close, especially after Covid and everything,” she said. “We really try to open. Not just for us, but for our employees as well – just because the power is off doesn’t mean they don’t need money.”

The rolling power cuts have also led to panic buying of candles, flashlights and lamps – leading to price gouging in some areas, according to local outlet, the Samoan Observer. Candle prices had surged to 25 Samoan Tālā ($8) – more than half a day’s pay for a minimum wage earner, the outlet said.

A general store in Apia called Indoors doesn’t sell candles but sales representative Neci Lemo said they had “sold out of everything battery operated,” when asked about the demand for lighting.

Lemo told CNN that people on the island nation are familiar with power outages. “We’re small islands – just 200,000 people – and we just go back to the old-school kerosene,” said she.

Like everyone, Lemo is frequently dealing with the power being out at home.

“You just have to be smart,” she said, adding that it has been easier to plan for powerless days since authorities have begun issuing public warnings.

CNN
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Two survivors have been pulled from under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Myanmar, more than five days after the country was struck by a devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake.

The miraculous rescues of the two men offer rare moments of hope in the Southeast Asian country, where the ruling military government has announced a temporary ceasefire in operations against armed opposition groups to aid recovery efforts.

One of the rescues came in the city of Mandalay, near the quake’s epicenter, where a 53-year-old man was saved by Myanmar fire officials and a Chinese rescue team on Wednesday, 125 hours after he became trapped in the debris of a toppled hotel.

Dramatic video shared on social media shows the man being carried on a stretcher as rescue workers surround him, applauding.

In a separate rescue in the nearby city of Sagaing, a 40-year-old man was pulled from the rubble on Wednesday and is “doing OK” at a local hospital, a local rescue worker said. Video obtained by CNN shows rescuers using special cameras to locate the man.

The quake killed more than 3,000 people and injured thousands more, according to the ruling junta. Experts have warned the true death toll is likely to be higher as hundreds remain missing and hopes of finding people alive is dwindling fast.

Humanitarian organizations are continuing to stress the need for urgent aid, especially to more remote areas of the country.

Even before the quake, four years of civil war had left millions without adequate shelter, and battered health and communication infrastructure.

It was unclear on Thursday whether the temporary ceasefire set to run until April 22 was holding.

Hospitals are struggling to cope with the overwhelming number of injured, as critical medical care is delivered from makeshift tents, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

“In these tents, patients with fractures, wounds, and shock are being stabilized. They are functioning as mobile health clinics — delivering care where there are no longer walls,” said a WHO emergency team member on site in Mandalay.

Around 500 buildings have totally collapsed and 800 more are partially destroyed, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), raising challenges for rescue workers toiling among the rubble.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was scheduled to address the disaster response at a meeting of regional leaders on Thursday in neighboring Thailand, where powerful tremors from the quake killed at least 22 people.

In Thailand’s capital Bangkok, rescuers detected signs of life on Thursday at a site where dozens are feared trapped under the rubble following the collapse of an under-construction high rise building that killed at least 15 people.

Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt said workers digging through the rubble “shouted into a shaft” and heard a voice back – raising hopes for families that have faced an agonizing wait for news of their loved ones.

“This signal suggests that someone is there, offering hope,” Chadchart said. “We are all moving forward with full effort. The operation to drill into the area continues.”

CNN
 — 

Myanmar’s ruling military government has announced a temporary ceasefire in operations against armed opposition groups to aid recovery efforts following Friday’s devastating earthquake.

“For paying sympathy to the victims of the earthquake across the country, for providing the effective rescue operation and rehabilitation,” the truce would last until April 22, state-run MRTV said.

More than 2,700 people have died in Myanmar following the deadliest natural disaster to hit the country in years, the government says. Hundreds more remain missing, meaning the death toll is expected to rise.

Aid agencies have warned that the destruction caused by the 7.7 magnitude quake is leading to a medical crisis.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that people have lost access to health care and clean water.

Field Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Mikhael De Souza said that the lack of clean water could give rise to diseases.

“Water, both in quantity and in quality, is immensely lacking in the whole country and most specifically in the regions affected by the earthquake,” De Souza said in a voice note on Wednesday. “The lack of water is creating an issue in terms of immediate survival, but could also create an issue in terms epidemics in the future that we definitely want to avoid.”

The anti-regime authority Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw said over the weekend that bodies which had been recovered from under the rubble spread “a foul odor that poses serious health risks.”

The country has also been embroiled in civil war for four years sparked by a bloody and economically destructive military coup, which has seen junta forces battle rebel groups across the country.

The coup and ensuing conflict has battered its health infrastructure, leaving it ill-equipped to deal with major natural disasters.

Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) – an offshoot of lawmakers deposed in the coup – declared over the weekend a temporary pause on offensive military operations, “except for defensive actions,” to help facilitate rescue operations following Friday’s earthquake. It said the pause would last two weeks from March 30.

But Amnesty International reported Tuesday that the military junta continued air strikes in the days following the quake, citing testimony it had gathered from people on the ground.

Swathes of the country lie outside the control of the military junta and are a run by a patchwork of ethnic rebels and militias, making compiling reliable information extremely difficult.

MRTV also reported Wednesday that chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC) Min Aung Hlaing will attend a regional summit in Thailand from April 3 to 4 to discuss the response to the earthquake.