Big rumble in little China

[Solo]

So, earlier today in my afternoon, Sichuan was hit by a 7.5-7.8 magnitude earthquake, while Beijing was hit by a 3.9 magnitude earthquake moments later. A second earthquake is expected to hit Beijing to hit in a few hours, of a magnitude of 2-6.

Or so they say. I haven't been able to confirm the last bit about a secondary earthquake.

Anyways, in case I do not make it, I shall spend the next few hours composing a will.

If anyone wants in, now is your chance.

[Nychta]

Good luck surviving. I truly hope you'll be okay.

Also, this thread is completely not what I expected it to be.

[Solo]

What were you expecting? A tale of how Solo kicked Lo Pan's undead behind with his awesome kung fu skillz?

[SilentNight]

Good luck surviving. I truly hope you'll be okay.

Also, this thread is completely not what I expected it to be.
Completely ditto.

@Solo: I would pay good money to see you do that.:smallbiggrin: Good luck.

[dish]

It's weird. I read about the earthquake in the international media, but haven't noticed anything on the local news. (That could be because my husband is watching Terminator 3 on CCTV 6 rather than the news channel, of course.)

Ok, I just checked, and the death toll from the Sichuan earthquake is climbing higher and higher (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/12/content_8155166.htm). Oh dear :smalleek:. We didn't feel it, but then we're in Inner Mongolia right now. I've seen nothing about any earthquakes in Beijing.
Edit: Spoke too soon. Earthquake in Beijing - 3.9 on the Richter scale (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/12/content_8151649.htm).

[Solo]

Why do people still doubt me?:smallyuk:

[dish]

Why do people still doubt me?:smallyuk:

Husband doubted me when I told him about the latest Xinhua information. I think the fact that the initial reports only had 5 reported deaths didn't help on the credibility front.

So, where are you, and did you feel it?

[Solo]

I am in Beijing, but didn't notice a thing - I wa stoo busy surfing hte net, reading, and thinking about my girlfriend.

One of my aunts who lives downtown felt a *bump* though. Perhaps I was jus too far from teh point of origin.

[Solo]

Well, it's nearly 1:00 AM, and the expected aftershock hasn't made the deadline, so I'm calling it a night.

Should probably still keep an eye out for the next day or so.

To bed....

[dish]

Well, a 3.9 isn't that big. Especially considering what happened in Sichuan. (I'm now worrying about friends down there.)

[Solo]

Current death toll 10,000, expected to double as people manage to get into the center (which was cut off from contact with the rest of China) and assist survivors.

The heavy rains in the region are not helping.

[Serpentine]

Looks bad :smalleek:

Australia's a-comin'!
No really, within like an hour of it our PM had sent a nice letter and was negotiating getting aid there. I must say it looks like the Chinese government is being rather more cooperative than the Burmese :smallyuk:

[Artemician]

Heard it on the news yesterday, am majorly surprised at lack of response on this thread. Come on, Hurricane Katrina generated a 36- page thread, but an earthquake that kills 10 times more people barely gets noticed?

[dish]

There are many issues going on.

Lack of attention:
1) Out-of-sight = out-of-mind, for the vast majority of the playgrounders Sichuan is a long, long way away. To tell the truth, for the vast majority of Chinese people Sichuan is a long, long way away.

2) Lack of media access. The earthquake has obviously been the number one news story in the PRC today, but even the local media haven't been able to reach the epicentre yet.

The PRC and international aid:
While the PRC was persuing an isolationist policy the government did tend to refuse international aid. But since opening up (in the early 80s) they've realised that they actually get more respect from the international community for admitting when they need help. Thus, yes, they will be accepting offers of assistance from other governments. It's reassuring to see how much importance Australia places on helping other countries in the Pacific-rim region.

Death toll now at 12,000 and rising. My husband teared up at the pictures of the children whose bodies had been pulled from the rubble of their school.

[Dallas-Dakota]

Oh...

Sorry for the people who have had casualties in the people they knew.

And for that about Hurricane Catrina: Some of our very active members are American. I think we have less Chinese members. But I'm cutting this out, its getting to close to the no religion/politics stuff rule.
And what Dish said.

[Raiser Blade]

But I'm cutting this out, its getting to close to the no religion/politics stuff rule.
And what Dish said.

:smallconfused: Not... really.

[PhoeKun]

A big part of the reason Katrina was so widely covered was because it completely wiped a very famous city off the face of the earth. The flashy image of New Orleans and the flashy image of hurricanes made it an easier story to sensationalize. But I'd rather not let this turn into a discussion about Katrina.

I don't many people really understand how devastating earthquakes can be, and how great a threat they are to human life, particularly in areas that aren't prepared for them. From information I've been able to find about this earthquake, it seems to have hit a very large area... and leveled most of it. I don't know what else to say. This is horrible...

[Mr. Moon]

Oh dear... :smalleek:

I know how big a deal earthquakes, I've lived through a few of them. Good luck to anyone in the area... There's not much more I can say.

[Aereshaa_the_2nd]

This is bad, I know someone in Sichuan, a high schooler, I really hope they're okay. Uh oh.. :smallfrown:
EDIT: Oh, damn! (http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23691927-5014108,00.html)!

[EvilElitest]

Solo, i want you account dude. I can combine them to create the true being of Internet snark and Sarcasm. It will spawn a being of true evil
from
EE

[Solo]

I think you'll best be off leaving the job of creating sarcastic evil spawn to my girlfriend.

And posting in the appropriate thread. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80428)

[Artemician]

Not that anyone couldn't have found this out for him/herself, but the death toll has now topped 20 000 (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080514/tts-china-quake-a73cdd6.html), and is expected to rise rapidly as the government re-establishes communication to areas cut off by the quake, and bodies are removed from under the debris.

To put this into perspective, the death toll was put at 12 000 just yesterday. (http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_236848.html?vgnmr=1)

I'm pretty speechless right now. This is just terrible...

PS: at least the government's doing its best. (http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_236893.html)

[Arioch]

PS: at least the government's doing its best. (http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Asia/STIStory_236893.html)

I'm really impressed with the Chinese government's reaction. They've really come a long way since the last major earthquake in China (when and where was it, now?) when the emergency services were completely undertrained and unprepared.

The contrast between them and Burma's government is staggering...

[Izodor]

I would like to wish all the chinese people well in coping with the earthquakes.

[Solo]

I'm really impressed with the Chinese government's reaction. They've really come a long way since the last major earthquake in China (when and where was it, now?) when the emergency services were completely undertrained and unprepared.

Tangshan, July 28, 1976, 7.8 initial quake, 7.8 aftershock 16 hours later, 242,419 casualties, though some experts believe the CCP deliberately underreported casualties. As the entire city (with 1.6 million residents) was demolished, the true death toll is likely much higher, perhaps up to 665,000 dead.

[dish]

Just wanted to say that if anybody wants to donate money then the Red Cross is the best way to do it. You can donate in your own country, and the money will be put to immediate use. (Those of us in China can donate directly to the Chinese Red Cross, or by sms to China Telecom or China Unicom.)

[Dallas-Dakota]

Heard it on the news yesterday, am majorly surprised at lack of response on this thread. Come on, Hurricane Katrina generated a 36- page thread, but an earthquake that kills 10 times more people barely gets noticed?


Hurricane Katrina

Main article: Hurricane Katrina

By the time Hurricane Katrina approached the city at the end of August 2005, most residents had evacuated. Bla- Bla- Bla. Tens of thousands of residents who had remained in the city were rescued or otherwise made their way to shelters of last resort at the Louisiana Superdome or the Morial Convention Center. Over 1,500 people died in Louisiana.[20]

Hurricane Katrina -Tens of thousands still remaining - 1,500 deaths from hurricane Katrina.
China earthquake - 1.6 billion people - 15,000 deaths from the earthquake.
The percentage is way lower with china, that might explain a little, little bit.

[Illiterate Scribe]

I'm really impressed with the Chinese government's reaction. They've really come a long way since the last major earthquake in China (when and where was it, now?) when the emergency services were completely undertrained and unprepared.

The contrast between them and Burma's government is staggering...

Problem is, the only group that the Burmese junta are even looking likely to let in would be the Chinese army. Looks like that's unlikely to happen now (even with the second storm coming) :smallfrown:, although I can't say I blame them.

[Iudex Fatarum]

If only I wasn't a poor starving student in Kunming. I was on a bus so didn't feel it but a lady that lives near me who works in a 7th floor office felt it a ton. Thinking back I may have felt it and that was when I got thrown in the bus.
There is little else I hear about. Of course it also doesn't help that people back home either think its a very far distance away, or think its nextdoor (its a close city but its not That close)

dish where do you live here? I'm sure you know people affected by this. My chinese teacher had her cousin i think that lives just outside of the main affected city, they were ok but lots of structural damage.

[SilentNight]

Official death toll was 50,000 last I saw.:smallfrown:

[Artemician]

Hurricane Katrina -Tens of thousands still remaining - 1,500 deaths from hurricane Katrina.
China earthquake - 1.6 billion people - 15,000 deaths from the earthquake.
The percentage is way lower with china, that might explain a little, little bit.

FYI: American population is currently 301,139,947, as given by the CIA world Factbook. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/us.html). The Chinese population is 1,330,044,605, also from the same site.

1 500/ 301 139 947 = 4.98 x 10^-4%

The current death toll for the China quake has exceeded 50 000 as of today.

50 000/ 1,330,044,605, = 3.75 x 10^-3%

Even if you were using the old figure of 20 000, which was the estimate as of yesterday, the percentage death toll in China is an order of magnitude greater than that of the death toll for Katrina.

No dice, I'm afraid.

[dish]

If only I wasn't a poor starving student in Kunming.
Oh wow, that's a wonderful place to study. Yunnan...mmmm.


dish where do you live here?
Shanghai, but we were in Inner Mongolia on Monday, so we didn't feel anything at all.


I'm sure you know people affected by this. Not too many. I'm thankful for that, but there are still many people suffering.

My friends from Sichuan have all checked in safe and well - which is a relief. There are some other people - folks I knew years ago but lost touch with - that I'm still waiting to hear about through the grapevine. I'm still a bit concerned about one especially - he was working as a tour-guide based in Chengdu. However, several people I know are anxiously waiting for news of relatives who were working in the affected area. One guy still hasn't heard from his brother, and another is travelling to Sichuan tonight to collect his (now homeless) one-year-old nephew. His brother and sister-in-law will stay to try to rebuild their lives.

One very good thing to come of this has been the quite open and frank discussion in the media about earthquake preparedness and improving building codes in earthquake-prone regions. I hope this actually leads to some improvements.