Rescue Operations // Current

Philippine ferry sinks; 700-plus passengers missing | Reuters

A Philippine passenger ferry capsized during a typhoon with more than 700 people on board, triggering a frantic search on Sunday... more

Hawkmang
added this

0 responses

5 months ago

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... more

chinashaken
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

Big aftershock causes more misery in China

A big aftershock rattled southwest China on Sunday killing at least one person and injuring 400 others, state media reported,... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

China quake focus shifting from rescue to relief

Heavy rain over southwest China on Wednesday is likely to interrupt relief efforts and raise the risk of reservoir breaches in... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

Rescuers reach all quake-hit SW China villages

Rescuers had reached all the 1,044 quake-hit villages that are under 134 townships in southwestern Sichuan Province by Tuesday... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

Some Positive News About The Military !

The US Coast Guard rescues a man from a sinking boat off the coast of New Orleans, LA. The Rescue Swimmer is interviewed about... more

stanman48
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

Myanmar death toll soars, new reached 133000+

Diplomats witnessed "huge" devastation in the Irrawaddy delta on Saturday and the toll of dead and missing from the... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

Quake effort resumes after panic

Rescue efforts are resuming in Beichuan in China, after the entire city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

New storm deepens misery in cyclone-hit Myanmar

Torrential tropical downpours lashed Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Friday, deepening the misery of an estimated 2.5 million... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

China earthquake: 50,000 may have died

China's government has given warning that 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that has devastated large areas of... more

kushan
added this

11 responses

6 months ago

China quake toll 'to top 50,000'

More than 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that devastated parts of China on Monday, state media say. The warning... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

China quake toll close to 15,000

Nearly 15,000 people died in the devastating earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency... more

kushan
added this

2 responses

6 months ago

Chinese Politburo stresses saving lives first in quake relief

Saving lives should be taken as the top priority during the quake relief after nearly 15,000 confirmed dead, a high profile... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

China: Troops plug dam as death toll soars

China's death toll from a massive earthquake soared by thousands Wednesday as troops rushed to plug "severe cracks"... more

kushan
added this

1 response

6 months ago

Troops sent to repair quake-hit Chinese dam

Some 2,000 Chinese troops were sent today to repair "extremely dangerous" cracks in a dam upstream of an earthquake-hit... more

kushan
added this

0 responses

6 months ago

Quake Toll Up in China as Soldiers Reach Epicenter

Hundreds of Chinese soldiers marching through mud and debris reached mountain towns at the epicenter of the earthquake on Wednesday, while army helicopters began airdrops of food and medicine in the same area. Officials raised their estimate of the number of people killed to nearly 15,000, with thousands more trapped and missing in remote areas.

The soldiers who reached Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck China on Monday, began ferrying survivors across rivers on plastic skiffs. But in the first township that the soldiers reached, Yingxiu, only 2,300 of 10,000 residents could be confirmed alive, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

A poor farming region that is home to a famous panda reserve, Wenchuan is believed to be one of the worst-hit areas.

“There is an urgent need for medical staff, medicine, food and drinking water,” said He Biao, the deputy secretary-general of the Aba prefectural government, which includes Wenchuan.

At the same time, Chinese state media reported that “extremely dangerous” cracks had appeared in a dam upriver from the earthquake-hit city of Dujiangyan, also in Sichuan Province, according to The Associated Press.

Dujiangyan is the site of some of the most horrific scenes in the last few days. A school collapse in a southern suburb killed hundreds of children, perhaps as many as 900. Parents have begun setting up memorials and bodies are still being pulled from the rubble.

The fact that aid was finally able to reach Wenchuan was a minor triumph in the aftermath of the worst earthquake to hit China in more than 30 years. Until Wednesday, Wenchuan had been completely cut off from the outside world, and the longer it remained completely isolated, the more people would suffer and ultimately die. Half of the survivors had severe injuries, Chinese officials said.

But the threat of further earthquakes and aftershocks remained high across the entire region. A small tremor could be felt here in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan Province, around 11 a.m. Wednesday. Hours later, workers in at least one high-rise hotel asked guests to move to lower floors because of a heightened earthquake alert.

More than 800 police officers arrived in Yingxiu soon after the soldiers broke through. Aerial photos taken from a helicopter flying over one town in Wenchuan County showed empty avenues and row after row of deserted buildings, and what appeared to be a large cluster of makeshift tents on a wide soccer pitch.Hundreds of Chinese soldiers marching through mud and debris reached mountain towns at the epicenter of the earthquake on... more