News & Politics - Massive quake kills thousands in China

**sunnykerr** · 05-12-2008, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Massive quake kills thousands in China
7.9 temblor topples buildings; untold numbers thought to be trapped

MSNBC News Services
updated 2:59 p.m. PT, Mon., May. 12, 2008
CHENGDU, China - A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and a chemical plant Monday in central China, killing more than 8,700 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the worst quake in three decades.

The 7.9-magnitude quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan’s provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam.

Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, Xinhua said. Photos showed people using cranes, mechanical hoists and their hands to remove slabs of concrete and steel.

Buried teenagers struggling to break free from the rubble, “while others were crying out for help,” the official Xinhua news agency said. Families waited in the rain near the wreckage as rescuers wrote the names of the dead on a blackboard, Xinhua said.

State TV broadcast tips for anyone trapped in the earthquake. “If you’re buried, keep calm and conserve your energy. Seek water and food, and wait patiently for rescue,” CCTV said.

In Beichuan county, northeast of the epicenter, 80 percent of the buildings fell, and 10,000 people were injured, Xinhua said. Men younger than 50 were ordered to bring tools to the area to help dig out any survivors.

'We're afraid'
The earthquake hit one of the last homes of the giant panda at the Wolong Nature Reserve and panda breeding center, in Wenchuan county, which remained out of contact, Xinhua said.

In Chengdu, it crashed telephone networks and hours later left parts of the city of 10 million in darkness.

Interactive map
Animation of China's quake

“We can’t get to sleep. We’re afraid of the earthquake. We’re afraid of all the shaking,” said 52-year-old factory worker Huang Ju, who took her ailing, elderly mother out of the Jinjiang District People’s Hospital. Outside, Huang sat in a wheelchair wrapped in blankets while her mother, who was ill, slept in a hospital bed next to her.

Xinhua reported 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone and 216 others in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.

The earthquake caused serious damage hundreds of miles from the epicenter.

Vicky Yang, who teaches Chinese at Lakeside School in Seattle, frantically called overseas until she was able to reach her parents on Monday.

She said her family had escaped injury and joined others moving to safer ground as evening neared. "The earthquake was so strong, even houses in my family's neighborhood, 500 kilometers [300 miles] away from the epicenter, had collapsed," Yang told msnbc.com. "It is very sad."

Landslides, toxic spill
Worst affected were four counties including the quake’s epicenter in Wenchuan, 60 miles northwest of Chengdu. Landslides left roads impassable Tuesday, causing the government to order soldiers into the area on foot, state television said, and heavy rain prevented four military helicopters from landing.

Wenchuan’s Communist Party secretary appealed for air drops of tents, food and medicine. “We also need medical workers to save the injured people here,” Xinhua quoted Wang Bin as telling other officials who reached him by phone.

To the east, in Beichuan county, 80 percent of the buildings fell, and 10,000 people were injured, aside from 3,000 to 5,000 dead, Xinhua said. State media said two chemical plants in an industrial zone of the city of Shifang collapsed, burying hundreds of people and spilling more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia.

Though slow to release information at first, the government and its state media ramped up quickly. Nearly 20,000 soldiers, police and reservists were sent to the disaster area.

Disasters always pose a test for the communist government, whose mandate rests heavily on maintaining order, delivering economic growth, and providing relief in emergencies.

Pressure for a rapid response was particularly intense this year, with the government already grappling with public discontent over high inflation and a widespread uprising among Tibetans in western China while trying to prepare for the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

“I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy,” President Bush said in a statement.

'Olympic Movement is at your side'
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge sent his condolences to President Hu Jintao, adding: “The Olympic Movement is at your side, especially during these difficult moments. Our thoughts are with you.”

Premier Wen Jiabao, a geologist by training, called the quake “a major geological disaster,” and traveled to the disaster area to oversee rescue and relief operations.

“Hang on a bit longer. The troops are rescuing you,” Wen shouted to people buried in the Traditional Medicine Hospital in the city of Dujiangyan, on the road to Wenchuan, in comments broadcast by CCTV.

“As long as there was a slightest hope, we should make our effort a hundred times and we will never relax,” he said outside the collapsed school in Juyuan.

The quake was the deadliest since one in 1976 in the city of Tangshan near Beijing that killed 240,000 — although some reports say as many as 655,000 perished — the most devastating in modern history. A 1933 quake near where Monday’s struck killed at least 9,000, according to geologists.

Monday’s quake occurred on a fault where South Asia pushes against the Eurasian land mass, smashing the Sichuan plain into mountains leading to the Tibetan highlands — near communities that held sometimes violent protests of Chinese rule in mid-March.

Much of the area has been closed to foreign media and travelers since then, compounding the difficulties of getting information. Roads north from Chengdu to the disaster area were sealed off early Tuesday to all but emergency convoys.

Reporting 313 aftershocks
In Chengdu, the region’s commercial center, the airport closed for seven hours, reopening only for emergency and a few outbound flights. A major railway line to the northeast was ruptured, stranding about 10,000 passengers, Xinhua said. Although most of the power had been restored by nightfall, phone and Internet service was spotty and some neighborhoods remained without power and water.

Nervous residents spent the night outside, some playing cards or heading to the suburbs. State media, citing the Sichuan seismology bureau, reported 313 aftershocks.

“Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting,” said Ronen Medzini, an Israeli student in Chengdu, via text message.

When it hit shortly before 2:30 p.m., the quake rumbled for nearly three minutes, witnesses said, driving people into the streets in panic.

“It was really scary to be on the 26th floor in something like that,” said Tom Weller, a 49-year-old American oil and gas consultant staying at the Holiday Inn. “You had to hold on to something like that or you’d fall over. It shook for so long and so violently, you wondered how long the building would be able to stand this.”

While most buildings in the city held up, those in the countryside tumbled. On the outskirts of Chongqing, a school collapsed, killing at least five people. Residents said teachers kept the children inside, thinking it was safer.

The city of Mianyang ordered all able-bodied males under 50 to take water and tools and walk or drive to Beichuan, where most of the buildings had collapsed.

State TV broadcast tips for anyone trapped in the earthquake. “If you’re buried, keep calm and conserve your energy. Seek water and food, and wait patiently for rescue,” CCTV said.

Although initially measured at 7.8 magnitude, the U.S. Geological Survey later revised its assessment of the quake to 7.9. Its depth — about six miles below the surface, according to the USGS — gave the tremor such wide impact, geologists said.

The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing, 930 miles to the north, causing evacuations of office towers. People ran screaming into the streets in other cities, where many residents said they had never felt an earthquake.

In Beijing, where hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors are expected for the Olympics, stadiums, arenas and other venues for the games were undamaged.

Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000-seat National Stadium — known as the Bird’s Nest and the jewel of the Olympics — was conducting a site inspection when the quake struck. He told reporters the building was designed to withstand a 8.0 quake.

“The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake,” said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee. “We considered earthquakes when building those venues.”

Some 660 miles to the east in Anhui province, chandeliers swayed in the lobby of the Buckingham Palace Hotel. “We’ve never felt anything like this our whole lives,” said a hotel employee surnamed Zhu.

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FirstPerson: Readers share their experiences from China
Interactive map: Animation of China's quake

The massive Three Gorges dam, the world’s largest about 350 miles to the east of the epicenter, was not affected, according to the information office of State Council Three Gorges Construction Committee. The area around the enormous dam remains increasingly precarious as rising waters in the reservoir have led to landslides.

Premier Wen, after arriving in Chengdu, traveled to Dujiangyan, near the collapsed high school. On his plane, he appealed for people to rally together.

“This is an especially challenging task,” state TV showed Wen saying, reading from a statement. “In the face of the disaster, what’s most important is calmness, confidence, courage and powerful command.”

Massive quake kills thousands in China - China - MSNBC.com

I heard about this on my way home from work.

My cousin is over there right now on business. A friend of mine is also there. And another cousin of mine is leaving on the 6th of June to go pick up his daughter, whom he's adopting. Her orphanage is not right besides where this happened, but they apparently felt the tremors.

And, of course, all communications have been knocked out. So we have no news. Bleh.

Motoko Ayoama · 05-14-2008, 12:34 AM

I have seen that the number has risen to reach 20,000 people killed.

I currently live in Xiamen, Fujian. Many people asked me if I was OK because they do not know the geography of China. Poor Chine people, after the issues with the Tibet, they have to deal with an earthquake

Uh Blah · 05-14-2008, 09:20 AM

China: Troops race to plug quake-damaged dam - CNN.com

22,000

**sunnykerr** · 05-14-2008, 03:36 PM

Well, we've heard from my friend and from my cousin's baby daughter. We haven't heard from my other cousin who's there on business. But that could mean a billion different things. It could mean she's so far away from there that she doesn't even realize we're all freaking out. It could mean that she's somewhere where communications are down. It could also just be that we're all way too hyper to simply call her husband and enquire.

Besides, so far, as far as I know, no Canadian casualties, or even injuries, have been reported.

Otherwise, though, there's no good news. I saw reports across several different news shows on different channels last night. And the good news was stuff like "well, this kid was pulled out alive, but they had to amputate his leg" or "this man was pulled out of the place where the bridge he was walking on collapsed, but now he's got no news from his entire family."

This is so sad and tragic.

Ali · 05-20-2008, 09:48 PM

So sad. I've been praying.

Jen Jaree · 05-20-2008, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)

her husband and enquire.

Besides, so far, as far as I know, no Canadian casualties, or even injuries, have been reported.

I am Canadian. My friend who is in China on a school trip. Posted on Facebook that he got both his legs broken and ribs but found out he was kidding (he does that a lot). I think he was Bejing or Shanghai and he didn't feel it.

I am pretty sure you all noticed whenever an earthquake hits a develpoing nation (I don't know weither China is developing or developed) the death tolls are much higher than it would be in the US. There was a Seattle earthquake several years ago which I don't think killed anyone if so it was very few.

**sunnykerr** · 05-21-2008, 06:11 PM

Well, the thing with developing nations is that they're still developing, right? Some of their infrastructure (especially in more remote/provincial regions) is bound to be a little less stable. And I mean that litterally.

My brother works for a company who does business with China. His company builds motors and stuff for planes. So, part of their business with China is that they import pieces. And, not to fall into utter stereotype here, but apparently one of the problems they encounter is that the idea of a standard of quality isn't always prevalent in Chinese manufacturing industry.

We know as much from all the recalls of the last year or so.

As long as the end result is there, sometimes (big emphasis on the word here) there isn't as much attention paid to how they got there. So motor pieces and buildings do okay for a while but, when faced with any kind of stress, they don't necessarily hold up.

Motoko Ayoama · 05-22-2008, 02:38 AM

China is still a developing nation. There are still many inegalities among the country.

I am in Xiamen, Fujian and I did not feel it but I saw on the TV that they felt it in Taipei... its impossible.
The number of dead people has obviously increased, reaching about 40,000 dead. Here in China, everybody is trying to donate for the injured persons. Now the government has to look after the rescued people.
There are still many dangers for them there, like the diseases. I also heard that they are afraid there could have another earthquake

Quote:

My brother works for a company who does business with China. His company builds motors and stuff for planes. So, part of their business with China is that they import pieces. And, not to fall into utter stereotype here, but apparently one of the problems they encounter is that the idea of a standard of quality isn't always prevalent in Chinese manufacturing industry.

what do you mean by that? its interesting because I am currently working in a Chinese manufacturing company (garment & bags).

**sunnykerr** · 05-22-2008, 04:49 PM

Okay, you have to understand that what I mean by that is what I understand as my brother tells it to me. So, you know, bear that in mind.

But, for instance, they order metal pieces that have to have specific "less-than-a-millimetre" in width. And, every time you shave metal, there's a compression effect on the main piece of metal (the one that's being "shaven"). So the idea is to get it right in one take, otherwise you compromise the metal bit a little bit more every time you "shave it." Well, (and, again this is according to my brother) the factory they deal with have a tendency to shave pieces a little bit a time, being very precise in their approach, but also compromising the piece all the more by repeatedly shaving it to get the right proportion instead of doing it in one take.

So that's the one example.

I've never heard of any problems with garnments made in China, but there's been repeated recalls with toys and other painted wares because the coatings contained lead. And I remember a few cases of different things, like bassinets, being recalled because they would collapse in a certain way that was dangerous for the child involved. Pet food was recalled because it contained something or other that made the animals sick. Baby bottles, too, were recalled after it was found the plastic they were made of contained a toxin (or something like that) that was released when people would put the bottle (full of milk) in the microwave to be heated...

And so on. Obviously, I don't mean any of this as a criticism. But one of the things that seems to come with an old democratic government is that every product, every part of every product, every little consumer good is subject to very specific standards and norms before they are released for public consumption.

And, of course, China is a HUGE trading partner, so we have a lot of goods made in China everywhere here. So I'm both in a pretty good position to say that there seems to be a certain disparity between the standard of quality in certain commercial domains between Canada and China. It's certainly not everywhere. But it is there.

4N6 DNA · 05-23-2008, 10:25 AM

My mom subscribes to all the Chinese news channels and the images are horrifying

Luckily all my family members were nowhere close, but I am still praying for everyone over there.

**sunnykerr** · 05-25-2008, 07:08 PM

Apparently, the forecast is for heavy rains over the next little while... So, obviously, that's going to hamper search and rescue... or search and recovery, if they're at that point now.

It's just really sad and appalling in a sense... all that loss of life.

***Nad*** · 05-27-2008, 08:05 AM

It's just horrible that, on top of everything, they now have to evacuate people because they fear for the safety of some quake-spawned dam due to the floodwaters that are expected if the heavy rain hits the area. They said on the news this morning, that there are almost 160,000 people in the threatened valley

**sunnykerr** · 05-27-2008, 06:43 PM

And I can't help thinking about the fact that there might still be more people trapped alive. I know, doubtful, but how horrible would it be to survive that long only to drown in the floodwaters?

Can't they catch a break?

***Jerry D*** · 05-28-2008, 01:39 PM

Take foot, insert in mouth:

Sharon Stone: Was China quake 'bad karma?'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sharon Stone's "karma" comment is having an instant effect on her movie-star status in China.

The 50-year-old actress suggested last week that the devastating May 12 earthquake in China could have been the result of bad karma over the government's treatment of Tibet. That prompted the founder of one of China's biggest cinema chains to say his company would not show her films in his theaters, according to a story in The Hollywood Reporter.

"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said Thursday during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview with Hong Kong's Cable Entertainment News. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, called Stone's comments "inappropriate," adding that actors should not bring personal politics to comments about a natural disaster that has left five million Chinese homeless, according to the Reporter.

UME has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, China's biggest urban movie markets.

During the brief interview, which has also surfaced on YouTube, Stone also said she cried when she received a letter from the Tibetan Foundation asking her to help quake victims.

"They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry," she said. "It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you."

Stone's words created a swell of anger on the Internet, including at least one Chinese Web site devoted solely to disparaging her comments.

"To Sharon Stone's comment, it's unlikely that we will respond," said a woman who answered the phone at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. She refused to give her name or position.

After-hours phone calls and email to a representative for Stone were not immediately returned Tuesday night.

According to the Web-based database imdb.com, Stone has at least four movies coming up between now and 2010, including "Streets of Blood," "Five Dollars a Day" and "The Year of Getting to Know Us."

Unreal. That's an incredibly insensitive thing to say about this tragedy.

**sunnykerr** · 05-28-2008, 07:37 PM

In all honesty, I have to admit that it was my knee-jerk initial reaction, too.

Which was immediately followed by the thought, "Oh, I am going straight to hell." Because, obviously, a people and their government are two different things. Same for a people and their military.

And then I thought about the people I knew who were in China...

But I have to admit that the thought crossed my head for about a nanosecond, too. Thank God I don't live in the public light, that's all I have to say...


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