Myanmar mourns earthquake dead: BBC Learning English from the News

From BBC Learning English,

this is Learning English from The News, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme,

Myanmar mourns earthquake dead.

Hello, I'm Phil.

And I'm Pippa.

In this programme, we look at one big news story

and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines

from this episode, as well as a worksheet on our website:

bbclearningenglish.com

So, let's hear more about this story.

Myanmar has begun five days of national mourning.

That's the sadness we feel when somebody dies following an earthquake

in the country, which has killed more than 2700 people.

The earthquake has caused widespread damage in Myanmar

and was also felt in Thailand and parts of China.

Teams are still trying to rescue survivors from collapsed buildings,

days after the earthquake hit.

Let's look at our first headline.

Myanmar earthquake:

woman trapped for days pulled alive from the rubble.

And that's from the Guardian.

That headline again, from the Guardian - a newspaper in the UK.

Myanmar earthquake:

woman trapped for days pulled alive from the rubble.

So, this headline is about the rescue efforts following the earthquake

and a woman who was found alive.

The headline says the woman was pulled from the rubble.

So what's rubble, Phil?

Well, 'rubble' means the piles of bricks or other building materials

that are left when a building is destroyed.

Yes. You might have seen pictures of Myanmar after the earthquake.

You'll see that lots of buildings have fallen down,

and that leaves lots of rubble that rescue teams have to try

and sort through to find survivors.

The headline describes a woman who is pulled alive from the rubble.

We commonly see the phrase 'pulled from the rubble'

in news stories about natural disasters and rescuers.

You might also see or hear the phrase 'reduced to rubble'.

If a building is reduced to rubble,

it means it's been damaged very badly so that it has no structure anymore.

We've had 'rubble' - the piles of bricks, stone

or other materials left behind when a building is destroyed.

For example, the factory was knocked down and now all that's left is rubble.

You're listening to Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English,

our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about the impact of an earthquake in Myanmar.

As we've mentioned, Myanmar has been worst affected by the earthquake,

but it was also felt in other countries.

Lots of videos have been shared online of the impact of the earthquake,

including one from China, which shows nurses protecting newborn babies

in a hospital as the building shakes.

And our next headline is about this video.

This one's from the BBC.

Nurses cling on to

newborn babies during earthquake.

And that headline again: Nurses cling on to newborn babies during earthquake.

And that's from the BBC.

OK, so the headline says nurses cling on to babies.

Could you explain the word 'cling', Phil?

Yes. 'Cling' means to hold on to something or someone tightly.

It can also mean to refuse to stop holding on to that person or thing.

Yes, in the story, when the earthquake hits,

the nurses have to hold onto the babies tightly to keep them safe.

They have to cling on to them.

It's a dramatic description of what happens in the video.

A note on prepositions.

We can say 'cling to' or 'cling onto'.

And they both mean similar things.

We tend to use 'cling to' when we're holding something larger.

For example, I might cling to the mountain when I'm climbing,

whereas we tend to use 'cling onto' for smaller things and people.

We can also use 'cling onto' to mean 'keep'.

So I could say that I'm going to cling on to my car.

Even though I never drive it anymore, I just don't want to sell it.

We've had 'cling' - hold someone or something tightly.

For example, my friend's terrified of flying.

He clings onto his wife's hand any time he travels by plane.

This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English,

our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about the impact of an earthquake in Myanmar.

The damage in Myanmar is widespread,

but finding survivors and cleaning up the mess is difficult,

as Myanmar is also affected by a civil war and food shortages.

Let's have another headline.

This is from the Financial Times in the UK.

Earthquake deepens crisis in Myanmar as aid effort intensifies.

That headline again from the Financial Times.

Earthquake deepens crisis in Myanmar as aid effort intensifies.

So, this headline talks about the impact of the earthquake

and the aid effort or help, which is intensifying.

And that means getting bigger or stronger.

But we're interested in this phrase 'deepens crisis'.

So let's look first at 'crisis'.

A crisis is an extremely bad or dangerous situation.

And 'deepens', this comes from the adjective deep,

  which means a long way to the bottom.

You might have a deep lake, for example.

Now, if something deepens, it tends to mean it gets bigger.

So if a crisis deepens, it means a bad situation gets even worse.

In the headline, it says 'earthquake deepens crisis'.

This means the earthquake makes a situation that is already very bad

worse. Remember that Myanmar was already affected by

a civil war and food shortages.

And now the earthquake has made life even harder for people.

We commonly hear 'crisis' and 'deepens' together in news stories

that are reporting on challenging situations as they get more serious.

We've had 'deepen crisis' - make a bad situation worse.

For example, the CEO quitting only deepened the crisis at the company.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another news story.

In the meantime, try our Learning English

for Work podcast to learn language to help you at work.

Find episodes at bbclearningenglish.com

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Bye for now. Bye.