A Chinese national rescue team arrived at Yangon International Airport in Myanmar on Saturday afternoon to assist in disaster relief efforts following a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake on Friday.
The 82-member rescue team, sent by the Chinese government at the request of the Myanmar government, arrived at the Yangon International Airport at around 16:00 with rescue equipment and supplies aboard a chartered Air China flight. They departed from the Beijing Capital International Airport on Saturday morning.
The team members said that the hot weather in the disaster area would be a great challenge. All members had taken cholera vaccines to prepare for possible outbreak of the disease in the disaster area.
The team followed earlier Chinese relief efforts, including a 37-member rescue team sent by Yunnan Province, which arrived in Myanmar on Saturday morning, and a group of 16 volunteers from the Chinese civil relief squad who set off earlier on the same day.
A total of 1,644 people died, 3,408 were injured, and 139 remained missing in the powerful earthquake in Myanmar, according to the Information Team of the State Administration Council on Saturday night.
The 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit the southeast Asian country on Friday, with Mandalay, Bago, Magway, the northeastern Shan state, Sagaing, and Nay Pyi Taw among the hardest-hit regions.
Chinese national rescue team arrives in quake-hit Myanmar
Chinese national rescue team arrives in quake-hit Myanmar
Chinese national rescue team arrives in quake-hit Myanmar
Chinese national rescue team arrives in quake-hit Myanmar
Los Angeles is grappling with rising costs and delays in its wildfire recovery process, as tariffs on construction materials imposed during the Trump administration compound the challenges.
The devastating wildfires recently destroyed over 17,000 homes and businesses, leaving communities urgently pushing forward with reconstruction.
The Trump administration has recently rolled out new tariffs on a wide range of construction materials, including steel and aluminum, from the main trading partners of the United States, such as Canada, Mexico, and China. This has significantly driven up costs, further complicating the recovery efforts
"As the city and county of Los Angeles move aggressively to rebuild the wildfire areas in Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and up in Altadena, to build those houses, we need softwood lumber, aluminum, and steel from Canada," said Gene Soroka, executive director of Port of Los Angeles.
While the tariffs aim to boost domestic production, the transition will take time. In the interim, the shortage of materials is creating ripple effects across the construction sector.
"We are still handling a lot of imported steel, despite the tariffs because there's not enough American manufacturing of steel right now. So, one of the unintended consequences that this has done the wrong way is you don't have enough steel. That impacts construction, that impacts economic growth across the board," said Weston Labar, chief strategy office of Waterfront Logistics.
According to the Associated General Contractors of America, housing costs could skyrocket by almost 50 percent, widening the gap between insurance payouts and actual rebuilding expenses. It may force many homeowners to delay or even abandon their reconstruction plans, prolonging the housing shortage in Los Angeles.
Tariffs are also driving up prices for other products, impacting recovery efforts.
"We need appliances from Mexico, furniture from China, and all of those prices are going up, whether anticipatory, or real as these imports are coming across our port complex. So, we've got to have some pretty detailed discussions about this because families who want to rebuild, businesses who want to get back into the office are going to be impacted by these tariffs one way or another," said Soroka.
As Los Angeles strives to recover, the economic uncertainty caused by tariffs presents a formidable obstacle.
Tariffs add strain to Los Angeles wildfire recovery efforts
