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Two deadly quakes strike Tibet
"Two earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas, killing at least nine people and collapsing hundreds of houses, China's state news agency said Tuesday. Rescuers rushed in to try to save people buried in the rubble.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Monday's first quake measured magnitude 6.6 and struck at 4:30 p.m. ( 8:30 a.m. GMT) 50 miles west of Lhasa, more than 1,600 miles (2,575 kilometers) from Beijing.
The second temblor measuring magnitude 5.1 hit about 15 minutes later, some 60 miles west of the Tibetan capital, it said.
Earlier reports from China's official Xinhua News Agency said at least 30 people died, but the agency revised the death toll to nine on Tuesday, saying the previous figure was inaccurate as it came from "unauthoritative sources" and required verification.
Hundreds of houses collapsed in Gedar township near the epicenter in Dangxiong County, and traffic and telecommunications were cut. Nineteen people were injured, Xinhua said, citing Hao Peng, deputy chairman of the Tibetan regional government.
An unknown number of people were trapped, and soldiers and rescue workers were dispatched to the site, Xinhua said.
Deaths also were reported in a neighboring county, Xinhua said, but no figures were available..."
More at link... "Two earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas, killing at least nine people and collapsing hundreds of house... more -
6.1 magnitude quake kills 22 in southwest China
BEIJING (AP) -- A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province Saturday, killing 22 people and injuring more than 100, state media said.
Rescue teams were headed to the quake-hit area but heavy rains and the region's rugged terrain hampered their efforts, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The quake killed 17 people in Sichuan and five others in the neighboring province of Yunnan, Xinhua said.
The agency said about 100 people in Sichuan and 35 in Yunnan were injured. The quake hit 31 miles southeast of Panzhihua city in the southwestern corner of Sichuan on Saturday afternoon.
Nearly 1,000 houses were destroyed in Panzhihua, and it was not known how many people were buried in the rubble, the report said.
The China Earthquake Administration sent teams and seismic experts while the Yunnan provincial civil affairs bureau and the Yunnan Red Cross Society sent 3,400 tents and 2,000 quilts, Xinhua said.
Also Saturday, an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale struck the northwestern region of Xinjiang, Xinhua said in a separate report.
No casualties were reported from the quake which hit the sparsely inhabited Tianshan mountains, it said.
On May 12, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in northern Sichuan killed nearly 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless. The region has been hit by scores of aftershocks, keeping people there on edge. BEIJING (AP) -- A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck China's southwestern Sichuan province Saturday, killing 22 people and injuring ... more -
Strong quake hits China's Sichuan ahead of Games
BEIJING (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rocked the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring 23 near the site of May's devastating quake that killed at least 70,000 people.
The Olympic torch was paraded in the capital of Sichuan on Tuesday on its journey to Beijing, where the Games open on Friday.
The 6.0-magnitude quake was epicentered in Sichuan's Qingchuan county, 1,253 km (778 miles) southwest of Beijing, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Five people were seriously injured in the tremor, which had toppled a bridge cutting off a national highway, and cut roads to at least three villages, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Authorities had mobilized 200 paramilitary troops and militia to conduct relief and rescue work, but they would have to enter affected areas by foot, Xinhua said.
The county's Communist Party secretary was leading a team to the area and the scale of the damage was still being investigated, the agency said.
Qingchuan, badly hit by May's 7.9 magnitude earthquake, has suffered a number of strong aftershocks in recent months.
A series of aftershocks hit the county late last month, killing one person and injured more than a dozen, state media said.
Chinese officials have warned of a tough reconstruction task for remote counties in Sichuan, which included housing millions of displaced and impoverished residents and rebuilding the local economy. BEIJING (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rocked the western Chinese provinces of Sichuan and Gansu on Tuesday, killing one person and i... more -
China is paying off grieving parents
This seems to be a particularly cold-hearted form of cover-up by the Chinese government.
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STRANGE CLOUDS OVER CHINA BEFORE 7.9 EARTHQUAKE
http://news.qq.com/a/20080513/004283.htm
在地震前2点左右，天空出现彩云，这是网友用手机拍摄到的画面。
视觉焦点
TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH:
About earthquake first 2 o'clock, the sky presents the pink clouds, this is the net friend the picture which photographs with the handset.
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
where we are horrified by the lost of life and destruction
of the environment caused by the China earthquakes. http://news.qq.com/a/20080513/004283.htm 在地震前2点左右，天空出现彩云，这是网友用手机拍摄到的画面。 视觉焦点 TRANSLATION TO ENGLISH: ... more -
H.A.A.R.P Zapping Earth's Atmosphere with a Billion Watts
Details about H A A R P
official webpage:
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/
High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, HAARP (1993)
The HAARP Program is jointly managed by the US Air Force and the US Navy, and is based in Gakona, Alaska. It is designed to "understand, simulate and control ionospheric processes that might alter the performance of communication and surveillance systems." The HAARP system intends to beam 3.6 Gigawatts of effective radiated power of high frequency radio energy into the ionosphere in order to: * Generate extremely low frequency (ELF) waves for communicating with submerged submarines * Conduct geophysical probes to identify and characterize natural ionospheric processes so that techniques can be developed to mitigate or control them * Generate ionospheric lenses to focus large amounts of high frequency energy, thus providing a means of triggering ionospheric processes that potentially could be exploited for Department of Defense purposes, * Electron acceleration for infrared (IR) and other optical emissions which could be used to control radio wave propagation properties * Generate geomagnetic field aligned ionization to control the reflection/scattering properties of radio waves, * Use oblique heating to produce effects on radio wave propagation, thus broadening the potential military applications of ionospheric enhancement technology.
STRANGE CLOUDS OVER CHINA BEFORE 7.9 EARTHQUAKE
http://news.qq.com/a/20080513/004283.htm
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from TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com
where we know the earth is a living organism and
zapping it with a billion watts can't be good. Details about H A A R P official webpage: http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/ ... more -
Piggish tale of survival
A pig that survived buried under rubble for 36 days after the Sichuan earthquake has been donated a 10-year premium-free insurance policy to guard it against future natural disasters, reports China Daily, as well as a life-time's supply of pig-feed.
The pig, named Zhu Jianqiang (meaning 'strong pig'), survived in the collapsed wreckage of its barn by living off charcoal and rainwater, but has doubled in size since its rescue to nearly 100kg. Zhu Jianqiang was adopted by the Jianchuan Museum, along with a goat that had also survived the disaster, and has since become one of the museum's top attractions.
Uplifting tale of survival and local good-will or profiteering by companies from a horrific natural disaster? Are the human survivors getting so much support and attention? Is this being overly cynical...? A pig that survived buried under rubble for 36 days after the Sichuan earthquake has been donated a 10-year premium-free insurance pol... more -
Sichuan teachers
i am trying to form a link with aschool damaged in the earth quake is there anyone out there who can help?
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China begins draining massive "quake lake"
Chinese troops began easing pressure on a dangerously swollen "quake lake" on Saturday, with water gushing into a man-made sluice in an operation monitored by satellite.
Hundreds of troops had been mobilized to dig a sluice channel to release some of the water in the lake that is threatening hundreds of thousands of people downstream in southwestern Sichuan province.
The Tangjiashan lake is the largest of more than 30 such dams formed when the May 12 earthquake triggered landslides that blocked rivers, raising fears of secondary flooding disasters after the tremor, which killed more than 69,000 people.
The draining of the 220 million cubic meters of pent-up water was earlier delayed while troops rushed to expand the channel, worried the dam wall of rock and mud could give way and unleash a dangerous surge, Xinhua news agency reported.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was impatient to defuse the quake lake threat and return attention to the millions of people displaced by the earthquake, many of whom are living in crowded tent camps.Asia Chinese troops began easing pressure on a dangerously swollen "quake lake" on Saturday, with water gushing into a man-made s... more -
Reverse sterilization offer for earthquake parents
China is sending medics to offer reverse sterilization operations to parents who lost their only children in last month's quake, state media says.
The family planning authorities say the team will provide counselling, surgery and in-vitro fertilisation treatment.
Under China's one-child policy, parents who lose a child or have one with disabilities are allowed a second baby. China's one-child policy - which limits urban couples to one child and rural couples to two - is estimated to have prevented 400m births since it was introduced in 1979.
The authorities in Sichuan province estimate about 7,000 of those killed in the 12 May quake were only children. China is sending medics to offer reverse sterilization operations to parents who lost their only children in last month's quake, ... more -
Earthquake wedding
A young couple had just finished exchanging their vows when the ground started shaking in China. None of the 33 guests were injured.
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A heart-breaking video about the shakiest and deadliest earthquake in the century.
Less than two weeks after the monster earthquakes hit Sichuan, China, the Western media have significantly cut back on, if not forgotten, the disaster coverage. Many have seen the horrific images of dormitory buildings shaking, people running for lives and soldiers digging rubble for signs of life. But this earthquake, along with its thousands of aftershocks, is very very different, and so much more brutal than any earthquake in recent history.
To present the disaster's visual destructiveness and ruthlessness isn't the most difficult job, as there are thousands upon thousands of video clips and images available on English and Chinese portal sites, TV network web pages, among other online entities. But how to get the viewers to understand the full magnitude of the destruction and, more importantly, the extreme challenges for refugee resettlement and reconstruction in less than 10 minutes is no easy task. (Most people nowadays don't have more than 10 minutes online for things they don't care much about any more.)
I set out to tell the earthquake story in a powerful video in a few minutes to the English speaking audience. By picking through over a thousand photos and dozens of video clips found on Chinese web sites, I managed to weave out a narrative of some major highlights with the help of a few Chinese classic tunes in the background. Strong components of this presentation includes:
The opening factoids - babies becoming orphans, parents grieving souls, 7,000 school buildings collapsed and one survey in a school found 90% students lost their friends.
Images of an anchorwoman running away from studio scared of shaking, continuous sound a minute's worth of studio desk trembling, and a clip of a security tape capturing people fleeing the building and sunshade umbrella shaking.
An emotional short conversation of an intact family describing how the father saved the daughter and what the daughter was thinking in the three hours buried under rubble. The daughter was so grateful for her survival that she kept saying "thank you" to her father, and the father kept telling her "don't mention it, stop crying." (This may not be something unusual for most Western viewers, but for those who understand Chinese culture, people often don't express emotions explicitly and saying thanks to parents or children is something rarely heard.)
Contrast photos of communities before and after the quake, photos of landslides, leveled landscapes, successful and failed rescues, satellite imagery, and a climactic string of photos that present a whole variety of difficulties for those who deal with the earthquake destruction, from 4 million Chengdu citizens sleeping on the streets to babies crying for parents.
At the end, I chose to have a moment of silence and, during this moment, open some thoughts about some of the questions journalists and many Chinese raised about shoddy buildings for schools, concerns about safety of many dams in this earthquake prone region, so on and so forth. As these will be some of the very important questions for China to address to rebuild stronger and better houses, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure projects.
This production is the most heart breaking piece I have done. But as a powerful video presentation, I hope it can help my nation and millions of those affected in their reconstructions by getting continued attention from outside China even though people here tend to forget about a most devastating earthquake in this century on the other side of the planet. Less than two weeks after the monster earthquakes hit Sichuan, China, the Western media have significantly cut back on, if not forgott... more -
When corruption works
Interesting take on the collapse of the schools in Sichuan - and how China's push for more and more institutes is what led to the faulty construction. Interesting take on the collapse of the schools in Sichuan - and how China's push for more and more institutes is what led to the... more
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China returns to normal - Arrests grieving parents
So much for the softer side of China.
Grieving parents who were demanding answers to the poor construction that lead to the deaths of thousands of children were arrested today. Apparently in China, protesting and demanding such answers just don't fly. An AP reporter was also detained. Can't wait for the Olympics now.
Check out more at the associated link. So much for the softer side of China. ... more -
"Confident" China rules out post-quake epidemics
Chinese medical teams have fanned out across the earthquake zone, disinfecting makeshift camps and educating survivors, and on Monday the Health Ministry said it could guarantee there would be no epidemics.
Where bodies could not be cremated, they had been been buried deep underground and far from water sources to prevent contamination, ministry spokesman Mao Qunan said.
"Theoretically, when there is a large movement of people, the risk increases for the spread of transmittable diseases," he said on a webcast on central government website www.gov.cn.
"...We have the ability and the confidence to guarantee there will be no epidemics after the disaster." Chinese medical teams have fanned out across the earthquake zone, disinfecting makeshift camps and educating survivors, and on Monday ... more -
Chinese helicopter carrying quake victims crashes
A Chinese military helicopter carrying earthquake victims crashed with 14 people on board, underscoring the difficulties relief efforts face even as rescuers found two miners who'd been stranded for 19 days.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is visiting east-central China's Shaanxi province to direct relief operations, ordered an immediate search for the helicopter, the official Xinhua news agency said. It crashed yesterday afternoon after running into turbulence in Sichuan province's Wenchuan county, one of the areas worst hit by the May 12 quake, according to Xinhua.
The aircraft, which earlier transported epidemic specialists to the quake-stricken region, carried a crew of four as well as 10 local residents who'd been injured in the quake, Xinhua said, without giving information about casualties.
``Things will certainly not get any easier with bad weather in the upcoming rainy season,'' said Carl Naucler, the Beijing- based regional head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, today in a telephone interview. ``The risk of epidemics will increase at the camps as well, and we'll have to take more precautions.''
Meanwhile, the two injured miners, who'd been stranded in the Sichuan mountains, were airlifted to safety by a Hong Kong government helicopter this morning, Xinhua reported.
The miners, who suffered rib and limb injuries, survived because they had access to enough rice and water, the report said. Rescue teams were told of the two's whereabouts by colleagues who'd earlier been rescued.
Water Supply
China has temporarily restored water supply to 9.6 million people in the quake-stricken regions, the country's water resources ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Rescue crews have also finished building diversion channels at Tangjiashan, the biggest of more than 30 lakes created after landslides caused by the May 12 earthquake blocked rivers, according to a statement posted on the Chinese central government's Web site today.
The death toll from the quake rose to 68,977, with 17,974 others still missing, Xinhua reported yesterday. More than 15 million people have been displaced.
The earthquake was the most powerful to hit China since a magnitude 8.6 quake struck Tibet in 1950, killing 1,526 people.
A 7.5 magnitude temblor in Tangshan in the northeast killed 250,000 people in 1976, according to the USGS. China's seismology department said the Sichuan quake was a magnitude 8. A Chinese military helicopter carrying earthquake victims crashed with 14 people on board, underscoring the difficulties relief effort... more -
Dior drops Sharon Stone after quake comments
Sharon Stone used to be a great ad for fewer wrinkles, but the 50-year-old's outburst linking the Sichuan earthquake to bad karma because of China's policy on Tibet means Christian Dior posters are coming down all over the Chinese capital.
The French fashion house has issued an apology for Stone's comments and pulled her from its Chinese ad campaign for anti-ageing products. And in good time, it appears, given that the Xinhua news agency has described Stone as "the public enemy of all mankind".
Stone is reasonably popular in China, having appeared at the Shanghai Film Festival last year, and she was well received for her comments about life and love, as well as her praise for China's ancient civilisation. At the same time, the face-cream saleswoman did cause consternation for accusing people of being skin-deep in their thinking about wrinkles. But that was nothing compared to the bad karma comments.
Stone said she was "deeply sorry" for causing anguish and anger among Chinese people for her candid, ill-judged remarks about China's worst natural disaster in three decades. So far, the Sichuan earthquake has killed about 70,000 people and left five million homeless.
"My erroneous words and deeds angered and saddened the Chinese people, and I sincerely apologise for this," the Basic Instinct star said in a statement issued by Dior China. "I am willing to take part in the relief work of China's earthquake and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people." Sharon Stone used to be a great ad for fewer wrinkles, but the 50-year-old's outburst linking the Sichuan earthquake to bad karma... more -
COCO WANG: 5.12 EARTHQUAKE STRIPS
Coco Wang reports on some of the tragic stories of the May 12th Chinese earthquake in comic form.
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Somber wall posters in Sichuan province
This photo by Chad Ingraham grabbed me when I saw it. It instantly reminded me of the wall posters during 9/11. Photos like this:
http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1349668.jpg?v=1&c=Vi...
I don't want to dive too deep into it or contrive connections that aren't there. I just wanted to share. This photo by Chad Ingraham grabbed me when I saw it. It instantly reminded me of the wall posters during 9/11. Photos like this: ... more -
Parents’ Grief Turns to Rage at Chinese Officials
By ANDREW JACOBS// The New York Times
Published: May 28, 2008
DUJIANGYAN, China — Bereaved parents whose children were crushed to death in their classrooms during the earthquake in Sichuan Province have turned mourning ceremonies into protests in recent days, forcing officials to address growing political repercussions over shoddy construction of public schools.
Parents of the estimated 10,000 children who lost their lives in the quake have grown so enraged about collapsed schools that they have overcome their usual caution about confronting Communist Party officials. Many say they are especially upset that some schools for poor students crumbled into rubble even though government offices and more elite schools not far away survived the May 12 quake largely intact...
Photo: Shiho Fukada for The New York Times
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Full story at link. By ANDREW JACOBS// The New York Times Published: May 28, 2008 ... more
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China Earthquake
