Magnitude 7.9 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
Poster of the Easter Sichuan, China Earthquake of 12 May 2008 - Magnitude 7.9
Posted on 05/12/2008 9:38:33 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
An earthquake registering 7.8 on the Richter Scale knocked out mobile phone service in the western Chinese city of Chengdu, although fixed-line networks remained in service, Chinese state television reported Monday afternoon.
About 2,300 base stations were affected by power outages or transmission problems, China Mobile's Sichuan office told the state-run Xinhua News Agency, adding that repairs were under way. China is the nation's and world's largest mobile service provider.
Service was affected in both southwestern Sichuan province, and in northwestern Shaanxi province, Xinhua reported, although those two areas do not abut. China Mobile also said that call volume had increased by 10 times what is normal but connections were down by half as a result of the earthquake.
China's online video sites were quick to receive footage shot during the earthquake by users, footage that did not appear on CCTV's nightly newscast, which is carried by most major channels. One clip, labeled "Chengdu Earthquake," showed students in a classroom or dormitory room hiding under their desks, as debris falls from the ceiling. "Don't move, don't move, it's ok," the photographer says to a student who emerges from cover too quickly. Footage from Chengdu would also seem to confirm the availability of Internet service there.
The semiconductor industry and China's growing software outsourcing industry take advantage of Chengdu's status as China's fifth-largest city and southwest China's largest academic center.
Although the Chengdu region is not considered a major manufacturing center for semiconductors, Intel began semiconductor manufacturing there in 2005, and employs 600 at a testing and assembly facility in Chengdu.
"We are now determining if this has implications for Intel's operation in Chengdu. Our first priority is the safety of our people," said Danny Cheung, an Intel spokesman based in Singapore, ......
(Excerpt) Read more at pcworld.com ...
“Can you hear me now?”
The same happens everywhere during an event. Unfortunately for the newer countries, they have been built up with wireless only technonologies, and no expensive landline infrastructure.
If you watch the videos you can see everyone on their cell phone trying to talk.
Thanks,...see #4 for a video.
WOW! That young man has the presence of mind to start putting on his sneakers in the midst of that...
That is often the first thing you think of. ‘Do I have time to put on my shoes or should I just run for the open spaces?’
Powerful quake kills thousands in southwest China
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May 12 11:48 AM US/Eastern
Breitbart
massive earthquake stunned southwest China on Monday, killing more than 8,000 people and flattening schools, factories and homes in a powerful tremor that was felt across a swathe of southeast Asia.
The quake, with a magnitude of 7.8, struck close to densely-populated areas of Sichuan province in what Premier Wen Jiabao called a "major disaster."
China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported 8,533 confirmed dead in that province alone, but there were fears the toll will rise far higher with others killed in neighbouring regions and reports of hundreds buried under debris.
Buildings swayed in Beijing and Shanghai, while the quake was also felt in Hong Kong, Hanoi and Taipei and in the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,800 kilometres (1,200 miles) from the epicentre.
"Facing disaster, the most important thing is calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership," Wen told China's CCTV television on a flight to the heart of the quake-hit zone.
China's state-run Xinhua news agency cited local disaster relief officials saying 3,000 to 5,000 people were estimated to have died in just one district of Sichuan, Beichuan County.
A further 10,000 people were injured in the county, where officials said 80 percent of buildings had collapsed.
"I heard the vents ruffling and then started to feel the building shake and a couple of bits of the ceiling fell," Richard Morgan-Sanjurjo, a 30-year-old business consultant who lives in Chengdu, told AFP.
"I ran so fast. I thought the building was going to come down on my head," he said.
US President George W. Bush expressed his condolences and said the United States "stands ready to help," and Japan said it was ready to provide as much relief aid as possible.
The quake damaged two chemical plants in Shifeng, about 50 kilometres from the epicentre, burying hundreds of people and forcing more than 6,000 others living nearby to be evacuated, Xinhua said.
It earlier reported up to 900 students buried when a high school collapsed in Dujiangyan, northwest of the provincial capital Chengdu. At least 50 bodies were recovered as frantic parents looked on.
ping!
Magnitude 7.9 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
Poster of the Easter Sichuan, China Earthquake of 12 May 2008 - Magnitude 7.9
The Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, occurred as the result of motion on a northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake's epicenter and focal-mechanism are consistent with it having occurred as the result of movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically related fault. The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China.
On a continental scale, the seismicity of central and eastern Asia is a result of northward convergence of the India plate against the Eurasia plate with a velocity of about 50 mm/y. The convergence of the two plates is broadly accommodated by the uplift of the Asian highlands and by the motion of crustal material to the east away from the uplifted Tibetan Plateau.
The northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin has previously experienced destructive earthquakes. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake of August 25, 1933, killed more than 9,300 people.
Earthquake Information for Asia
PodCast Interview with NEIC Seismologist Harley Benz
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To me this map reveals much...as a Shake Map
Thats the thing about EQ’s they come on so quick you go with what you got. Its usually better to shelter in place initially because people get killed by falling building facades but if I was in sight of a door I would set a land speed record making for it.
Thanks! Your posts clarify much.
I'd opt for the shoes ... I can run much faster when I am not stepping on glass and rocks. Earthquake survival kits should obviously include your Nike's close at hand!
If you notice, often the only thing left standing is the doorway. Stand in the doorway, it’s the strongest part of the structure.
Meanwhile- I just read they’ve not made any contact with the people in the epicenter ..
Who did you say it was brother?
Who was it fell by the way?
I saw the quake in the dorm room
But I didn’t se anyone pray.
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