| Earthquake hit SiChuan Province, China | |
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| May 12, 2008 19:03 |   |
 | God bless China. Hope Sichuan province would recover and be back to normal life soon. Heard that there are thousands of frogs lining up on the street days before earthquate (animals are much more sensative) just like 3 decades ago, fish jump out of water before a tragic earthquake that took place in TangShan, HeBei Province and collapsed the whole city. WEIRD why there were no report from national Seismological Centre before this disaster. were those seismologists or officers working in Seismological office sleepy? China Is Hit by 7.8-Magnitude Earthquake Near Chengdu (Update7) By Aaron Sheldrick and Eugene Tang May 12 (Bloomberg) -- China was hit by a magnitude-7.8 earthquake, the nation's strongest in 58 years causing buildings to shake in Beijing, more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away. Between 3,000 and 5,000 were killed in one county alone, China state media said. The quake struck 90 kilometers west-northwest of the central city of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. local time, at a depth of 10 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said. A magnitude-6 quake struck the area about 15 minutes later. Chengdu, with 11 million people, is Sichuan's provincial capital, site of China's largest panda reserve and where 40 percent of gas deposits are found. A Sichuan high school building collapsed and may have buried as many as 900 students in a mudslide, Xinhua News Agency said earlier. The agency cited China's Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying at least 107 were confirmed dead. In a separate incident, four students were killed and at least 100 were injured when two schools collapsed in Liangping county of Chongqing municipality, adjacent to Sichuan, state-run Xinhua said. Chongqing is about 350 kilometers from the epicenter and has a population of about 30 million. One person died in Sichuan province. ``It's a big one,'' said Dimtry Storchak, director of the Berkshire, U.K.-based International Seismological Centre. ``It could be a very disastrous earthquake. It depends on how deep, or how shallow it struck, and what the local structures are like,'' Storchak said today in a telephone interview. The death toll may rise, Deng Changwen, a spokesman for the Sichuan provincial seismological bureau, was quoted as saying by Xinhua. Troops and a 180-men rescue team have been sent to Wenchuan, a city of 111,800 people and one of the closest population centers to the quake, Xinhua said. |
| May 12, 2008 19:04 | #1 |
| Older Buildings ``The rescue efforts will be focused on the older parts of the city, where there are older buildings that aren't well reinforced,'' Deng said. The quake damaged more than 2,000 China Mobile Ltd. base stations, Vice President Sha Yuejia said in an interview broadcast on state-run China Central Television. The quake shook buildings in Beijing for more than three minutes and traffic stopped. Construction cranes stopped work, while hundreds of workers were seen scrambling to get out of buildings including the China World Tower, one of the tallest structures in the Chinese capital. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in the capital. Shaking was felt as far as Hong Kong and Bangkok in Thailand, 1,950 kilometers away. Quake Sparks Panic The quake sparked panic in cities and towns across Sichuan and other central provinces, Xinhua said. No damage was reported at the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric dam, Xinhua said. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Chengdu about five hours after the earthquake struck, while President Hu Jintao issued an order for an immediate response from government agencies, according to Xinhua. Wen called the earthquake a ``disaster'' and called for calm and ordered immediate relief work, according to state media. Today's earthquake was the world's strongest tremor since a 7.9-magnitude temblor struck Indonesia in September, according to the USGS. Today's temblor was the biggest to hit China since a magnitude-8.6 quake struck Tibet in 1950, killing 1,526 people. China's deadliest disaster was a 7.5-magnitude quake that killed 250,000 people in northeastern China's Tangshan in 1976. |
| May 12, 2008 19:04 | #2 |
| The U.S. Geological Survey defines an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more as ``major,'' and one above 8 as ``great.'' `Serious Quake' ``Let me take the opportunity to express regret at the news of the very serious earthquake that I understand occurred only a few hours ago in Sichuan province, and I wanted to convey our concern over that situation,'' U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said in a meeting with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Hundreds of employees were evacuated from skyscrapers in the Lujiazui district of Shanghai, the city's financial center, where the stock exchange and banks including Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings Plc have offices. No damage was reported. Sichuan has about 40 percent of China's natural gas reserves and produced about 22 percent of the nation's output in 2006, according to China National Petroleum Corp. and BP Plc's annual energy report. The province is also home to China's largest reserve for the endangered giant panda. PetroChina Co., a unit of China National Petroleum, hasn't yet received any reports of damage at its fields in the earthquake zone, spokesman Mao Zefeng said. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. closed outlets in Chengdu after the shaking knocked goods off shelves, Dong Yuguo, a spokesman, said by telephone. Power and water supplies inside the stores were also down, he said. Ford Motor Co. Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. said there was no immediate damage to their factories in Sichuan, Chongqing and other areas. The Ministry of Railways said it hadn't received any reports of interruptions to services, Yang Xue, an official, said. To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at bloomberg.net|asheldrick; Eugene Tang in Beijing at bloomberg.net|eugenetang. |
| May 12, 2008 22:38 | #3 |
| GUEST19319 | my father is on a photo trip to guilin.....no way to contact him. Does guilin city have big impact by the earthquake? |
| May 12, 2008 23:45 | #4 |
| These two areas are nowhere near the centre and friends in Guangzhou report not having felt anything. Don't worry about them. Unless they were in Sichuan they will be quite safe. |
| May 14, 2008 07:34 | #5 |
| GUEST03219 | will be travelling to Guilin soon has the area been affected by the Earthquake? |
| May 18, 2008 15:00 | #6 |
| Fight for survival is basic human rights. Anybody heard how much big US corp. have donated to this devastating disaster in Sichuan quake? i think oil industry is crown corp in saudi that's why there is big gap between these two gov. donations. Saudi Arabia offers $60 mln aid, U.S. delivers $0.5 mln to China BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) — Several more countries have offered aid to China whose southwest Sichuan province was hit by a massive earthquake on Monday. Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz has decided to donate 50 million U.S. dollars in cash and 10 million dollars worth of relief materials. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that his country will provide to China 1 million pounds (about 2 million U.S.) in aid. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his government will provide a first instalment of 500,000 euros (800,000 U.S. dollars) in aid to the German Red Cross to help China in its relief work. Also, the Polish Foreign Ministry announced aid worth 100,000 U.S. dollars for China’s quake-stricken people. |
| May 18, 2008 22:13 | #7 |
| Recently, some netizens have made their ranking of those who donate money to the disaster areas including countries, rich men and entertainment stars. Some of them are dissatisfied with those who donate less than others. Taking Andy Lau for example, he donated 100000 yuan when heard of the tragedy. However, many people thought that he should have donated more because he was rich. Unreasonable! He has his own decision to donate how much. We didn't have the right to require him to donate more. |
| May 19, 2008 00:41 | #8 |
| no intention to rank donations. for those who lost the beloved ones never healed.  |
| May 19, 2008 00:44 | #9 |
| for those who survied and nation's future-children. |
| May 19, 2008 21:16 | #10 |
| I have read these discussions about donations being ranked and criticized in another forum, too. It’s sad that this tragedy is getting another shade. Maybe some do not understand the meaning of donation, which means voluntary. It is their decision if they donate or not. And whatever the amount is, we should be thankful. Every little bit helps. |
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