may 12, 2007: 7.8 richter hits chunking and chengdu

so like, a couple hours ago, a huge earthquake (7.8 on the richter scale) hit chunking and chengdu, cities in the south. i have no idea why this is turning into a journal, but i haven't posted for a month so don't make fun of me.
i'm alright, so don't start celebrating but even here, which is like, 900 miles north, they could feel tremors. i... was on the track... so... i didn't feel anything, but apparently people in soho and stuff started evacuating buildings and my school was evacuated... then it started raining xP
so far, there aren't that many details floating around yet and phone calls can't get in or out of the region, so i really don't know what's gonna happen. what really sucks is that chunking is a city with one of the highest populations in the country, and it's pretty much in the mountains. so... high population + mountains + strong earthquake = lots of dead ppl
thirdddddddddd of all, that area is also where the famous little three gorges dam is, and if the largest dam in the world breaks, pretty much every city east of the yangtze river (including nanjing, wuhan, shanghai, and many many more) are gonna be... gone...


may 13, 2007: 12,000 dead

apparently this earthquake was the largest in 30 years. the official number dead is reported as 12,000 but the number is definitely gonna rise. over 26,000 were reported injured in the city of mingyang and 18,600 are buried in rubble.
chances of finding survivors seems grim. the remoteness of many of the stricken areas makes it hard for government aid to reach them, and storms yesterday made it impossible for paratroopers to land in the areas.
just east of the epicenter, a school building collapsed killing 1000 students and teachers and reducing the 6 story building to a 2 meter pile of rubble. another school was destroyed in dujiangyan killing an estimated 900. bodies of dead students were carried out on doors (makeshift stretchers) as mourners lit candles and firecrackers.
in gansu (a province northeast of sichuan), a train was derailed spilling 13 gasoline tankers and starting a fire that is still burning now.
"my wife died in the quake. my house was destroyed," he said. "i am going to chengdu, but i don't know where i'll live." says zhou chun, a 70 year old retired mechanic who left the city of dujiangyan in a old blue blanket draped over his shoulders carrying luggage and bags of food against the relentless cold drizzle and endless lines of ambulences.
government officials are spreading hope, "Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up," wen zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the ministry of civil affairs. premier wen jiabao rushed to the scene and assured that roads would be cleared, and electricity be restored as soon as possible. "We will save the people," he said "As long as the people are there, factories can be built into even better ones, and so can the towns and counties."
so far the only hope comes from the 20,000 police officers and soldiers currently in the afflicted area and the 30,000 more on their way. but as for finding more survivors, they may not be much help; so far, only 58 people have been extracted from the rubble in the entire affected area so far.
i have no... idea... how bad this is going to be. i'm definitely gonna update every couple days about this. it's so sad. and right by the olympics too.

may 15, 2008: Predicted death toll--50,000

the death toll is already 20,000 and rising and rescuers are only beginning to reach the most remote regions in sichuan (which probably need help the most now). some 26,000 people are still trapped under rubble, but progress is finally gaining momentum. major roads have been cleared and heavy machinery is being deployed to be used in rescue operations.
china has also issued a appeal for international aid, mostly asking for more supplies and equiptment (china has enough people ). that is really really rare, since historically china has been a very conservative and closed society.
luckily, no diseases have broken out yet, so that factor isn't shooting the death toll up. survivors are being immunized and corpses are being cleared to prevent spreading bacteria.
there're a lot of chairities going on right now, so i suggest that you.. ya know... share the love and pitch in to save whoever we can. because... if you look up pictures of the earthquake, it's honestly some of the saddest things i've seen. mothers crying over dead children, bloody bodies covered in dust buried under cement slabs, corpses laid in lines in the streets... god help these people.

oh and... lol btw, i don't have to pee, just... devart has been acting messed up for me so i can't change it