DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) — Bui Van Phong faced a choice when the Vietnam War ended 50 years ago: Stay in his small village, helping his parents carry on the family’s centuries-old tradition of making fish sauce, or join the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing his country for a better life.
Phong chose to stay behind and nurtured a business making the beloved condiment, known as nuoc mam in Vietnam, that is now in its fourth generation with his son, Bui Van Phu, 41, at the helm. Fish sauce from the village has been recognized by Vietnam as an indelible part of the country's heritage and the younger Bui is acutely aware of what that means.
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Worms crawl in the fish sauce made in Nam O fishing village, on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers work in the waters outside Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
A woman purchases a bottle of fish sauce at Lotte Mart West Lake on March 10, 2025, in Hanoi, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Nam Ngu fish sauce is displayed at Lotte Mart West Lake on March 10, 2025, in Hanoi, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers unload fish from their boats at the Da Nang harbor on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers sleep at the Da Nang harbor on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers retrieve a net on Nguyen Tat Thanh beach on March, 6, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fish sauce bottles stand on fermentation pots in Phan Cong Quang's home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fish sauce bottles are sealed at Huong Lang Co, a fish sauce producer in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Sardines ferment to create fish sauce in Phan Cong Quang's home in Nam O fishing village, March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Bui Van Phu produces fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Sardines ferment to create a fish sauce in Phan Cong Quang's home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village, March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
“It isn’t just the quality of fish sauce. It is also the historical value,” he said.
But that heritage is under threat, and not only from giant conglomerates that mass-produce fish sauce in factories. Climate change and overfishing are making it harder to catch the anchovies essential to the condiment that underlies so much of Vietnam and southeast Asia's food.
Anchovies thrive in large schools in nutrient-rich waters near the shore. But climate change is warming the oceans, depleting oxygen levels in the water. Scientists have long feared that this would lead to smaller fish, as large fish that need more oxygen may migrate or adapt over time by shrinking. Renato Salvatteci, who studies fisheries at the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel in Germany, said his research into warmer periods millenia ago found support for this in the fossil record.
“If we continue with this trend of deoxygenation, anchovies will not be OK with that,” he said. “Every species has a limit.”
Breaching that limit will have global consequences.
Warming oceans threaten the ocean ecology and the marine life that inhabits it. It may result in the proliferation of smaller, less nutritious fish and increase costs of fishing and consequently food. Anchovies, for instance, have an outsized role on marine ecology. They're food for other fish that people eat, like mackerel. They are also vital to make fish meal, used to feed farmed fish.
Overfishing compounds the problem, and geopolitical tensions in the contested waters of the South China Sea — responsible for about 12% of the global fish catch — make management difficult. The destructive industrial fishing practice of dragging large nets along the seabed, scooping up everything in a net's path, has prevailed since the 1980s. But despite increased fishing, the amount of fish being caught has stagnated, according to a 2020 analysis of fishing trends.
Even if the world can limit long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels and halve fishing intensity, the South China Sea will still lose more than a fifth of its fish stocks, warned a 2021 assessment by scientists from the University of British Columbia in Canada. In the most pessimistic scenario — temperatures rising by 7.7 degrees Fahrenheit (4.3 degrees) — nearly all the fish disappear.
Phu, who teaches information technology by day, also works hard to perfect the fish sauce art handed down by his ancestors.
The anchovies are usually caught between January to March when they congregate off the coast of Da Nang. If they are the right species and size, they get mixed gently with sea salt and put in special tera cotta barrels. Sometimes worms or other ingredients are added to bring in different flavors. Phu ferments this for up to 18 months — stirring the mix several times a week — before it can be strained, bottled and sold to customers.
The sea salt imparts different flavor depending on where it comes from. So does the amount of salt used, and makers have their own recipes; the Bui family uses three parts fish to one part salt. The time allowed for fermentation, and the potential addition of other fish, also affect the flavor of the final product.
But it is harder to get the perfect anchovies. The fish catch has decreased — fishermen in markets across Vietnam rue the fact that much of the fish they sell now was considered bait-size in previous decades — and it's only the good relationships he has with anchovy fishermen that allow him to get the fish directly, avoiding high market prices. The unmistakeable aroma of fermenting fish cloaks the homes of families that still make traditional fish sauce. But Phu said that many families are thinking of getting out of the business because of high anchovy prices.
That may affect Vietnamese plans for a bigger share of the global fish sauce market — projected to increase in value from $18.5 billion in 2023 to nearly $29 billion by 2032, according to a report by Introspective Market Research. Vietnam, along with Thailand, is the world's largest exporter of fish sauce and is hoping improvements in food safety to satisfy standards in lucrative markets like the U.S., Europe and Japan will help cement a national brand that helps advertise Vietnamese culture to the world.
It's hard to overemphasize how deeply the condiment is enmeshed in Vietnamese culture. Students living abroad speak of how its taste transports them back home and a top chef says it's the foundation for flavor in the country's cuisine. The varying taste of different brews also means everyone — from top businessmen to daily wage workers — has their own opinions about which is the best.
Phu said that each family has their own secrets about making fish sauce. And, nearly fifty years since his father chose to stay back and take care of the family business, he'd like to pass those on to his own son. But he knows that it'll depend on whether enough anchovies thrive in the sea for the craft to be viable.
“Fish sauce to me is not just a condiment for cooking. But it is our craft, our culture, our tradition that need to be preserved, safeguarded and inherited,” he said.
Associated Press journalist Hau Dinh contributed to this report.
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Worms crawl in the fish sauce made in Nam O fishing village, on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers work in the waters outside Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
A woman purchases a bottle of fish sauce at Lotte Mart West Lake on March 10, 2025, in Hanoi, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Nam Ngu fish sauce is displayed at Lotte Mart West Lake on March 10, 2025, in Hanoi, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers unload fish from their boats at the Da Nang harbor on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers sleep at the Da Nang harbor on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fishers retrieve a net on Nguyen Tat Thanh beach on March, 6, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fish sauce bottles stand on fermentation pots in Phan Cong Quang's home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Fish sauce bottles are sealed at Huong Lang Co, a fish sauce producer in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Sardines ferment to create fish sauce in Phan Cong Quang's home in Nam O fishing village, March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Bui Van Phu produces fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 5, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Sardines ferment to create a fish sauce in Phan Cong Quang's home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village, March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
Phan Cong Quang makes fish sauce in his home in Nam O fishing village on March 4, 2025, in Da Nang, Vietnam. (AP Photo/Yannick Peterhans)
MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — The smell of decaying bodies permeated the streets of Myanmar's second-largest city on Sunday as people worked frantically by hand to clear rubble in the hope of finding someone still alive, two days after a massive earthquake struck that killed more than 1,600 people and left countless others buried.
The 7.7 magnitude quake hit midday Friday with an epicenter near Mandalay, bringing down scores of buildings and damaging other infrastructure like the city’s airport.
Relief efforts have been hampered by buckled roads, downed bridges, spotty communications and the challenges of operating in a country in the midst of a civil war.
The search for survivors has been primarily conducted by the local residents without the aid of heavy equipment, moving rubble by hand and with shovels in 41-degree Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) heat, with only the occasional tracked excavator to be seen.
A 5.1 magnitude aftershock Sunday afternoon prompted screams from those in the streets, and then the work continued.
Many of Mandalay's 1.5 million people spent the night sleeping on the streets, either left homeless by the quake, which also shook neighboring Thailand and killed at least 17 people there, or worried that the continuing aftershocks might cause structures left unstable to collapse.
So far 1,644 people have been reported killed in Myanmar and 3,408 missing, but many areas have not yet been reached, and many rescue efforts so far have been undertaken by people working by hand to try and clear rubble, said Cara Bragg, the Yangon-based manager of Catholic Relief Services in Myanmar.
“It's mainly been local volunteers, local people who are just trying to find their loved ones,” Bragg said after bring briefed by her colleague in Mandalay.
“I've also seen reports that now some countries are sending search and rescue teams up to Mandalay to support the efforts, but hospitals are really struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, there's a shortage of medical supplies, and people are struggling to find food and clean water,” Bragg added.
The organization was sending a team by road on Sunday to assess peoples' most pressing needs so that it could target its own response.
With the Mandalay airport damaged and the control tower toppled in the capital Naypitaw's airport, all commercial flights into the cities have been shut down.
Official relief efforts in Naypitaw were prioritizing government offices and staff housing, leaving locals and aid groups to dig through the rubble by hand in residential areas, the hot sun beating down and the smell of death in the air.
Myanmar sits on the Sagaing Fault, a major north-south fault that separates the India plate and the Sunda plate.
The earthquake occurred when a 200-kilometer (125-mile) section of the fault ruptured, causing widespread damage along a wide swath of territory down the middle of the country, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway and Bago regions and Shan State.
Few details have come out so far, however, from areas other than the main urban areas of Mandalay and Naypitaw.
Still, two Indian C-17 military transport aircraft were able to land late Saturday at Naypitaw with a field hospital unit and some 120 personnel who were then to travel north to Mandalay to establish a 60-bed emergency treatment center, according to the country's Foreign Ministry. Other Indian supplies were flown into Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, which has been the hub of other foreign relief efforts.
On Sunday, a convoy of 17 Chinese cargo trucks carrying critical shelter and medical supplies was expected to reach Mandalay, after making the arduous journey by road from Yangon.
The 650-kilometer (400-mile) journey has been taking 14 hours or longer, with clogged roads and traffic diverted from the main highway to skirt damage from the earthquake.
At the same time, the window of opportunity to find anyone alive is rapidly closing. Most rescues occur within the first 24 hours after a disaster, and then survival chances drop as each day passes.
An initial report on earthquake relief efforts issued Saturday by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs noted the severe damage or destruction of many health facilities, and warned that a “severe shortage of medical supplies is hampering response efforts, including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicines, and tents for health workers.”
China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits and generators and pledged around $13.8 million in emergency aid. Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies to Yangon, and the country’s Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team to Myanmar.
Teams from Singapore have been working already in Naypitaw. Malaysia dispatched a team of 50 personnel on Sunday with trucks, search and rescue equipment and medical supplies. Thailand said 55 of its soldiers arrived in Yangon on Sunday to help with search and rescue operations, while Britain announced a $13 million aid package to help its locally-funded partners already in Myanmar respond to the crisis.
In neighboring Thailand, the quake rocked much of the country, bringing down a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok, some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) away from the epicenter.
So far, 10 people have been found dead at the construction site near the popular Chatuchak market, where 83 people are unaccounted for and the latest body was recovered from the rubble early Sunday morning. A total of 17 people have been reported killed by the quake in Thailand so far.
In Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, rescue efforts so far are focused on Mandalay and Naypyitaw, which are thought to have been the hardest hit, but many other areas were also impacted and little is known so far about the damage there.
“We're hearing reports of hundreds of people trapped in different areas,” said Bragg. “Right now we're at 1,600 (known fatalities) and we don't have a lot of data coming out but you've got to assume it will be increasing in the thousands based on what the impacts are. This is just anecdotal information at this point.”
Beyond the earthquake damage, rescue efforts are complicated by the bloody civil war roiling much of the country, including in quake-affected areas. In 2001, the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking what has since turned into significant armed resistance.
Government forces have lost control of much of Myanmar, and many places are dangerous or impossible for aid groups to reach. More than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and nearly 20 million are in need, according to the United Nations.
The government military has been fighting long-established militias and newly formed pro-democracy People's Defense Forces, and has heavily restricted much-needed aid efforts to the large population already displaced by war even before the earthquake.
Military attacks continued with airstrikes on Friday and reports of mortar and drone attacks on Saturday.
Tom Andrews, a monitor on rights in Myanmar commissioned by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, called for the military to immediately call a ceasefire.
“Aid workers should not have to fear arrest and there should be no obstructions to aid getting to where it is most needed,” he said on X. “Every minute counts.”
Rising and Peck reported from Bangkok. Jintamas Saksornchai contributed to this story from Bangkok.
People watch as rescuers work at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March, 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A volunteer drives an excavator to help rescue operations near Maharmyatmuni pagoda after an earthquake in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
A Buddhist monk walks near a collapsed pagoda after an earthquake in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
A Buddhist monk and a man walk past the Maharmyatmuni pagoda in the aftermath of an earthquake, in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
People walk past a damaged pagoda near Maharmyatmuni pagoda, in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
This handout photo provided by India's National Disaster Response Force shows a rescue team along with trained canines before boarding for Myanmar following Friday's earthquae, in New Delhi, India, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (National Disaster Response Force via AP)
Rescuers work to find survivors in a house that collapsed after an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
Rescuers work to find survivors in a house that collapsed after an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers conduct a search and rescue at a collapsed building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers conduct a search and rescue at a collapsed building in the aftermath of an earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Myo Kyaw Soe/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, workers load relief materials onto a chartered flight for support the earthquake in Myanmar, at the Kunming Changshui International Airport in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Peng Yikai/Xinhua via AP)
Heavy machineries clear the debris as rescuers work at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March, 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A woman cries as she waits for news as rescue work is underway at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed is seen following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A person goes through rubble at a Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A woman cries as she waits for news as rescue work is underway at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers use sniffer dog at work at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A woman cries as she waits for news as rescue work is underway at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers work at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Relatives of victims wait as rescuers work at the site of a collapsed under construction high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday morning, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A person watches rescue work underway at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers use sniffer dog at work at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
people watch rescue work underway at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Women cry as they wait for news as rescue work is underway at the site of an under construction high-rise building that collapsed after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Rescuers works look for the survivors at the site of an under-construction high-rise building that collapsed on Friday after an earthquake in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
A Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed is seen following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed is seen following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed is seen following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed is seen following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A person goes through rubble at a Buddhist monastery building that has collapsed following an earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A woman reacts after being informed that her husband had died at the site of a collapsed under construction high-rise building in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, March 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
