Doualy Xaykaothao covers breaking news from Asia for NPR News. She's based in Bangkok, Thailand, and her reports can be heard across all NPR News programs.
Xaykaothao joined NPR in 1999 as a production assistant for Morning Edition and has since worked as an NPR producer, editor, director and reporter for NPR's award-winning programs. As a producer for NPR's Newscast Unit, she was a member of the team receiving the 2001 Peabody Award for its coverage of the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Xaykaothao began reporting about anti-war protests from Seoul, South Korea. A year later, Xaykaothao was in the Phang Nga region of Thailand reporting on the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In 2006, Xaykaothao served as a fellow for the International Reporting Project at Johns Hopkins University-SAIS with a focus on women inside Nepal's 10 year civil war. Xaykaothao was also an Annenberg Fellow for NPR member station KPCC in Los Angeles in 2007, and was part of the reporting team to receive a LA Press Club Award for breaking coverage of the California wildfires. By 2009, Xaykaothao was in Indonesia reporting on the earthquake that devastated Padang. In 2010, she reported about North Korea's deadly attack on a South Korean warship. When Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, Xaykaothao was the first NPR reporter to reach Fukushima to report on the triple disasters in 2011.
Xaykaothao is Lao-Hmong American. She was born in Vientiane, Laos, but raised in France and the United States. She attended college in upstate New York, where she specialized in television, radio, political science, and ethnic studies. Her radio career began at Harlem community radio station WHCR 90.3 FM, where she volunteered as news-reader. Later, at Pacifica Radio's WBAI 99.5 FM, she worked for the station's resident film critic, the late Paul Wunder. At Pacifica, she also coordinated and produced Asia Pacific Forum, a program on politics, culture and arts inside Asian American communities, as well as missed stories from Asia.
For those who are curious, Doualy Xaykaothao is pronounced "dwah-hlee sigh-kow-tao."
Alex Mills is president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.
Alex Mills is a company man. He heads the largest state oil and gas association in the United States. He’s based in Wichita Falls, 90 minutes northwest of the Azle-Reno area, where a series of earthquakes hit six months ago. This story is part of our series on “What’s Behind the North Texas Quakes?”
As president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, Alex Mills represents businesses in nearly 30 states. In a weekly column, he wrote that hydraulic fracturing has become a focal point of attack for many environmental groups that want to deter or ban oil and natural gas production.
“The issue with hydraulic fracturing is not really an issue,” Mills said. “Because hydraulic fracturing is a process that has proven to be safe and reliable to get hydro-carbons out of the ground, oil and natural gas.” Continue Reading →
Gale and Barbara Wood's lakeside home was damaged by minor quakes northwest of Fort Worth.
Gale Wood worked on the Apollo 12 rocket program and later taught science to middle-school students in Fort Worth. But recently this retired engineer has been devoting his time to learning all about earthquakes.
Gale Wood, who’s 74, wanted to make clear that he wasn’t an environmental activist. Standing next to his back door, he shows proof of his scientific training, pointing to presidential awards and degrees. He says he’s a man of science.
“I have extensive knowledge of the Barnett Shale drilling,” he said. “Here I have some Barnett Shale itself. It’s all in pieces, from the drill bits.”
Along with the drill bits, there’s an Apollo visor, signed by astronaut Alan Bean, and pictures of Wood talking to other scientists about going to the moon. There’s also a yellow magnetic toy — an earthquake detector. Continue Reading →
Heather DeShon leads an SMU research team looking into what’s causing the earthquakes in and around Azle and Reno, which are northwest of Fort Worth.
Heather DeShon is a geophysicist at SMU. She’s studied earthquake sequences in Indonesia, Nicaragua, but also in North Texas — in Cleburne. Now she leads a team collecting data in towns northwest of Fort Worth.
After a cluster of small earthquakes hit in November, DeShon and SMU scientistsplaced seismic stations in Parker, Wise and Tarrant counties.
“The seismic stations measure the acceleration of the ground,” DeShon said. “When an earthquake happens, it moves the ground. What this allows us to do is to record the seismic waves, and that allows us to do a better job to locate the earthquakes.”
Barbara Brown says her horse runs into his pen when an earthquake strikes in Reno, Texas.
Barbara Brown is known to some of her neighbors as “The Digger.” She earned that nickname after collecting thousands of documents about oil and gas drilling, shortly after she says a swarm of minor earthquakes damaged her dream home, and those of her neighbors in Reno and Azle.
Brown is an Army wife in her 40s, with blue eyes, long brown hair, and a petite frame.
“Pretty much everyone around here knows: If they have a question, just call me,” Brown says.
She lives in a small town, less than 20 miles northwest of Fort Worth, called Reno, where dozens of minor quakes were centered back in November and December.
“First you’re thinking, ‘There’s no way that’s an earthquake,'” Brown says. “And then, you’re realizing, ‘No, that’s definitely an earthquake, those are earthquakes.’ And then you’re looking on the USGS [United States Geological Survey] website, and you get validation that is an earthquake. Okay, there’s something wrong.” Continue Reading →
Update 10 p.m. Tuesday:Â The Fort Worth City Council has delayed for one week a vote to permanently restrict outdoor watering to twice a week.
Council member W. B. Zimmerman asked for the additional time to educate the public about proposed conservation plans.
Sal Espino, who represents District 2, was opposed to the delay. He said: “I would be in favor of moving forward with this ordinance, imperfect as it may seem to some, and then later changing it or tweaking, because we’ve already been doing twice per week watering.”
Original story:Â Since last June, Fort Worth has been restricting outdoor watering to twice a week because of drought conditions. Those measures may become permanent if the City Council adopts a proposed water ordinance Tuesday night.
But as water usage is down, water rates are going up. Continue Reading →
Researchers from Southern Methodist University say folks shouldn’t rush to conclusions about what’s been causing the swarm of more than 30 earthquakes northwest of Fort Worth since November.
Scientists have installed a temporary seismic network in and around the earthquake swarm to help gain a better understanding of the quakes.
On Friday, in the basement of SMU’s Department of Earth Sciences, professors gathered in front of colorful waves from seismic stations.
Professor Brian Stump is part of SMU’s research team. He said those waves are what they use to pinpoint earthquakes, and more carefully examine each acceleration.
“Talking about how earthquakes generate waves,” Stump says. “That may be too technical, but it does help you understand what you’re feeling.” Continue Reading →
An Azle resident signs up to receive more information from environmentalists.
Just 10 days after a contentious public hearing with state officials, residents in Reno and Azle gathered Monday night to try and make sense of the swarm of earthquakes that keep rocking their part of North Texas. The latest quake hit just hours before the public meeting.
Several hundred people listened to a panel of speakers that included the former mayor of Dish, Calvin Tillman.
“I’m not some rocket scientist,” Tillman told the crowd. “Just a normal guy, who moved to the country, who got pissed off by the oil and gas industry, just like you.”
Tillman is working with environmental groups like Earthworks Action and the North Central Texas Communities Alliance to seek tougher restrictions and regulations on the oil and gas industry. Some point to gas drilling wastewater injection wells as the culprit of the quakes. No industry representatives spoke Monday night. Continue Reading →
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