Posted on 05/12/2008 5:17:36 AM PDT by SE Mom
BEIJING - A powerful earthquake buried 900 students in central China on Monday and killed at least 107 people, as several schools and a water tower collapsed in the tremor, state media reported.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck central China, but sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported 107 people had died and 34 people were injured. Four children died when two elementary schools in Chongqing municipality collapsed. One person was killed when the quake toppled a water tower in neighboring Sichuan province where the earthquake was centered, Xinhua said.
Xinhua did not give any other details on the 900 buried students or say if any of the students were thought to be alive.
--- The quake struck about 60 miles northwest of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. and there were several smaller aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
--- In the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 100 miles off the southeastern Chinese coast, buildings swayed when the quake hit. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The quake was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where some people hurried out of swaying office buildings and into the streets downtown. A building in the Thai capital of Bangkok also was evacuated after the quake was felt there.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.
The last serious earthquake in China was in 2003, when a 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Bachu county in the west of Xinjiang.
---
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Does anyone know where China stores their nukes?
Where is the Three Gorges Dam located?
It has been estimated that the death toll was between 30 million and 40 million.
http://www.overpopulation.com/faq/famine/chinese-famine-of-1958-1961/
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.superpower/three.gorges/yangtze.map.reference.jpg
Looks to be in the same neighborhood...
Thanks for the link- my knowledge of that history is...not what it should be.
BREAKING per FOX- hundreds of people buried under chemical plants that are apparently leaking hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere.
Given the size of this quake- one can’t help but wonder about 3 Gorges Dam and the nuke facilities that are nearby. Looking at the maps is unsettling.
I think that's one township.
Many early reports are wrong- sadly the numbers are likely to change as the days go on.
Seems to have had 5.0 aftershocks every 30-45min for the next 6 hours after the large quake.
FYI, a province is similar to a US state, except the governors are appointed by the central government. Sichuan province has 100m people (including Chongqing). That's roughly equal to the combined populations of California, Texas, New York and Florida. Area-wise, it's a little smaller than Texas and a little larger than California.
Prayers for all caught in this tragedy.
Thanks- I’ve been looking at various maps- it’s a huge area.
Thanks for the excellent link Tommy.
We must always remember that the Great Famine in China was completely the result of Communist totalitarianism armed with bad science. Everyone of those ~35 million people died because of Agrarian Reform. Communism is the largest killer in history, many times as bad as the Doomsday flu in 1918.
Always the main objective in these situations, and hope the best for those left behind and trapped.
He’ll be torn between this and the cyclone victims.
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