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May 18, 2008
The official death toll in the Sichuan earthquake has been revised upwards to 32,477. Deaths have also been recorded in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan. Within Sichuan, the Mianyang and Deyang regions suffered the most fatalities, with estimated deaths of 11,874 and 10,341 respectively. 209,900 people are reported injured, and the final death toll is expected to exceed 50,000Four foreign teams from Russia, Singapore, Japan and Korea have been allowed in to take...
Continue Reading "Earthquake Updates: 32,477 dead, foreign rescue teams, lakes burst, three days of national mourning and suspension of Olympic torch relay"
| May 17, 2008
Scene of devastation at Juyuan Middle School (聚源中学) in Dujiangyan (都江堰) The government has announced the start of a massive probe to find out why close to 7,000 schools classrooms have been destroyed and promised that anyone found responsible for shoddy construction will be severely punished. A great many of the casualties we've seen so far are students and teachers who were still in class when the quake struck. From AFP:"If quality problems do...
Continue Reading "Probe into why close to 7,000 classrooms were destroyed begins; Day of reckoning to arrive soon"May 16, 2008
In the days following the earthquake a number of stories have started surfacing about Sichuan's enormous migrant labor force and their concerns for loved ones back home. Out of the many laborers that have moved into China's rapidly developing urban areas, more come from Sichuan than any other province. A recent article from the Wall Street Journal tells us:According to official figures, eight million migrant workers come from Sichuan. But the official figures exclude many...
Continue Reading "Sichuanese migrant workers distraught, CCP orders assistance"May 15, 2008
Al-Jazeera: The scenes of destruction and devastation, and the smell of death. Melissa Chan wins our thumbs-up once again with this report: AP catches up with the group of British tourists that have been rescued from the Wolong Panda Preserve: AP: "The focus of rescue workers is starting to shift to a recovery mission. The death toll is already approaching 15,000 and that number is expected to skyrocket. (May 15)" France24:"While the earthquake's death toll...
Continue Reading "Video News: The smell of death, the British tourists at Wolong and the shift to a recovery mission as time runs out"Advertisement: Shanghaiist Continues Below!
May 15, 2008
Looks like evangelist Franklin Graham who previously made the news in the China Daily for "hoping to do more for China" is seriously putting his money where his mouth is. Speaking from Shanghai after a tour of Beijing, Hangzhou and Nanjing, the CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (named after his dad) and international Christian relief organization Samaritan's Purse has just donated a whopping RMB2 million, or US$285,000. That's a whole lot of money,...
Continue Reading "Evangelist Franklin Graham outgives entire nations to the relief effort"
UPDATE, 18:09 The first Japanese relief workers are expected to leave tonight. A group of 60 earthquake specialists together with sniffer dogs will head to Sichuan over the next few days. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has appealed for earth-moving equipment to aid rescue efforts in the region. Many relief workers are currently sifting through the rubble with their hands according to ABC News. The latest official death toll stands at 19,500 but is expected to...
Continue Reading "Foreign aid workers finally allowed in to earthquake zone"
As we told you earlier, there had been very real fears that the Zipingba Dam, 6 miles upstream from the devastated city of Dujiangyan, was displaying "extremely dangerous" cracks. The People's Daily is now reporting that the dam is "structurally stable and safe" following a full inspection. "The conclusion was reached after a panel of experts, led by Jiao Yong, Vice Minister of Water Resources, rushed to the site and made a thorough inspection of...
Continue Reading "Sichuan earthquake: Update on dams and nuclear sites"
Though reports are varied, it now appears that the current death from the Wenchuan earthquakes is somewhere between 17,000 and 20,000 (latter figure from the Time China Blog, although most of the media is still reporting the official count at a more conservative 15,000. It's still to0 early to say just how high that figure will climb once everything is said and done, but an earlier Time's estimate put that number at around 100,000 (their...
Continue Reading "Sichuan earthquake: As death toll approaches 20,000, dams a chief concern"
By Julien Bertrand and Derek Sandhaus As mentioned earlier, not a day had passed since the earthquake hit and we were already seeing cynical reactions from media outlets like The First Post blaming the devastation on China's rush to modernization, but the vast majority of the coverage has been positive and supportive of the country in its time of crisis. Just yesterday, the New York Times wrote a piece on the overwhelmingly positive reaction to...
Continue Reading "Quakes test China's openness and readiness"
The environment NY Times: Disaster Set Off by Colliding Land Masses NPR: Geology, Engineering Contribute to Quake Damage Probe International: China's deadly quake: Is the Three Gorges Dam to blame? Treehugger: China earthquake threatens nearby dams, environment Rescue efforts The Guardian: Ill-equipped soldiers face losing battle in huge rescue operation Press TV: China rejects foreign rescue teams NY Times: Quake toll rises; China struggles to reach victims Xinhua: Wen: 90 more copters for quake...
Continue Reading "Recommended Reads: The earthquake"Film star Jackie Chan has donated RMB10million to help those in need following the earthquake in Sichuan province. Other celebrities have also dipped into their wallets. From CriEnglish: "Jackie Chan also sent his consolation to the quake victims and encouraged them to hold on as "people all over the country are with you," the star said. The One Foundation initiated by kungfu star Jet Li has made a donation of one million yuan and...
Continue Reading "Celebrity Power: Jackie Chan and Li Yuchun"Some of you are starting to get in touch with us to send us your list of missing loved ones or friends. We were going to publish this list later, but decided we couldn't wait when we heard this bit of good news: John Bergen of Sichuan Tech and Business College in Dujiangyan has been found, and we've since contacted his friend Peter to let him know. And here's the list of missing foreigners as...
Continue Reading "Sichuan Earthquake: List of missing foreigners so far"In this video: A student of Xinjian Primary School (新建小学) at Dujiangyan (都江堰) rescued alive and in miraculously good shape, and the joys of reuniting with his parents. Great anguish and despair among the other parents who are growing increasingly impatient and demanding to see their children dead or alive. Another video worth watching is this rescue scene at Juyuan Middle School (聚源中学) within the same city. The good news at Juyuan is that out...
Continue Reading "Scene from Xinjian Primary School at Dujiangyan, Sichuan"Advertisement: Shanghaiist Continues Below!
May 15, 2008
Right after the earthquake struck, Olympic officials maintained that the torch relay would go on as planned as "the epicenter is not along the route of the torch relay". In fact, one day after the earthquake, China Daily was still offering this really happy and harmonious image of the torch relay. That, unfortunately, did not go down well with people, and after a huge outcry on the Internet which saw Olympic organisers roundly lambasted for...
Continue Reading "AP: Moment of silence before torch relay"BBC reports that the group of British tourists on their way to Wolong when the quake struck has turned up unharmed. So far, the official word from Xinhua is that there have been zero foreigner deaths (Note: report is from Tuesday morning), but a more recent report from AFP cites Xinhua as saying two Chinese-Americans and one Thai tourist in Sichuan have yet to be located. This morning, we received an email from Shanghaiist reader...
Continue Reading "Foreigners missing after the great China quake"May 14, 2008
Melissa Chan of Al-Jazeera is one of several foreign correspondents currently in Sichuan Province and files this story from Juyuan Middle School at Dujiangyan (都江堰) where Premier Wen Jiabao was earlier....
Continue Reading "Great sorrow, great grief in Sichuan Province"Danwei points us to this CCTV segment of Prime Minister Wen Jiaobao (温家宝) speaking to quake victims at various ground zero zones, including the Juyuan Middle School at Dujiangyan that we told you about in Update 49 here. We are reminded of this fantastic loudhailer blogpost by Richard Spencer of the Daily Telegraph, "Good officials are important in China". Well worth a read....
Continue Reading "Premier Wen Jiaobao with a loudhailer"
By Sue Anne Tay The death toll from Monday’s earthquake continues to climb but the Shanghai Composite Index fell only slightly on Tuesday, closing at 1.84% lower. Stocks traded normally after the first earthquake hit at 2:28pm on Monday, May 12. Travelling tremors that forced evacuations in several key buildings in Shanghai’s Lujiazui area were reported to have affected some fund managers and brokers. By the time the gory details of the earthquake and its...
Continue Reading "Shanghai stocks weather the great Sichuan earthquake"
Sorry this bears no relation to the Sichuan earthquake, but has any of you seen this in your hood yet? We don't have any time to translate this right now (maybe one of you can help), but apparently they're looking for the suspect in the explosion of Bus 942 in Yangpu District which happened earlier this month. The (dead) suspect is said to be around 40 years of age, 1.64m tall, and sports about 9...
Continue Reading "Police seek information on Yangpu bus explosion suspect"
We know that many of you have been affected by the tragic aftermath of this week's devastating earthquake in Wenchuan and are looking for ways to help the victims, so here is your chance to immediately get involved. We received word from ShanghaiExpat that the blood mobile will be out today in front of the Shanghai Exhibition Center opposite the Portman Hotel (a.k.a. the Shanghai Center). Those interested in donating blood have been instructed...
Continue Reading "Give blood and help the earthquake victims"
As reported earlier, the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake was not only near the city of Wenchuan, but it was also very close to the Wolong Panda Reserve. Xinhua informed us that some pandas at other facilities were safe, but the status of the Wolong pandas was still known. Luckily we have good news. We received this email from Karen Rose, Chairman of Pandas International:We have a report from the Bifengxia Panda Base that...
Continue Reading "News from Wolong: Giant pandas safe after earthquake"May 13, 2008
Scene of devastation at a school in Dujiangyan (都江堰) which collapsed from the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, China * Over 10,000 feared dead in biggest earthquake in China for 30 years * Earthquake measured at 7.9 on the Richter scale, epicentre(s) in western Sichuan * Second earthquake/aftershocks measuring 5.0 and 6.1 magnitude reported at epicentre today * Relief efforts hampered by terrain and poor weather * 15 British tourists among the missing. The group...
Continue Reading "The great Sichuan earthquake: What we know so far (and a second earthquake this morning)"By Sue Anne Tay For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan. They have also published an emergency relief hotline, along with bank account information to receive donations to assist their cause: Account name: Red Cross Society of China 开户单位：中国红十字会总会 For...
Continue Reading "Red Cross Society of China now calling for donations for Sichuan earthquake"Advertisement: Shanghaiist Continues Below!
May 12, 2008
By Kenneth Tan, Dan Washburn, Pete Chorba, and Derek Sandhaus digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Huge_earthquake_jolts_Sichuan_tremors_felt_across_China'; A strong earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has rocked Wenchuan in Sichuan province, some 92km northwest of Chengdu. The earthquake took place at 14:48 Beijing Time and tremors were felt (by our MSN friends) as far as Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing. This picture on the right shows the aftermath of the IT department of the Sichuan Bureau of the Xinhua...
Continue Reading "Breaking News: Earthquake 7.9 on Richter scale hits Sichuan, tremors felt across China, more than 10,000 dead, thousands more trapped under rubble - UPDATED OFTEN"
The total number of reported HFMD cases has risen to 27,500 and the death toll has edged up only slightly to 34. 22 of the deaths were reported took place in Anhui.The situation in Fuyang, Anhui Province, which was the first city to experience a major outbreak of HFMD, says the Ministry of Health. For the first time, patients discharged in Fuyang has outnumbered those checking in to hospitals.Meanwhile, the number of reported cases in...
Continue Reading "HFMD Watch: 27,500 cases and 34 deaths"
More Sichuan earthquake video clips from NoComment TV
Left: In Juyuan, great mourning among the surivors who are left to pick up the broken pieces. Right: In Dujiangyan, heavy wreckage, collapsed buildings, great grief and a city that's been ground to a halt. Left: In Dujiangyan, rescue workers are in a race against time to save more lives. Right: Chengdu residents queue up to donate blood....
Continue Reading "More Sichuan earthquake video clips from NoComment TV"