Posted on 05/25/2008 7:44:51 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Cracks run on the top of a dam in Wenchuan, China's southwest Sichuan Province May 20, 2008.
CHENGDU, China – Nearly 70 dams scarred by the force of China's most powerful earthquake in three decades were in danger of bursting, the government said Sunday, while looming rains added to worries about relief efforts for millions of homeless survivors.
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 62,664, with another 23,775 people missing, Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said. Premier Wen Jiabao has said the number of dead could surpass 80,000.
A magnitude 5.8 aftershock rattled the quake area Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Geological Survey said, causing office towers to sway in Beijing, some 1,300 kilometres away. There was no immediate information on any new damage caused.
State television reported Sunday that a survivor was rescued alive Friday, more than 11 days after the earthquake hit.
Xiao Zhihu, an 80-year-old bedridden man, was rescued in Mianzhu north of the provincial capital Chengdu after being trapped in his collapsed house, the report said. He survived because his wife was able to get food to him through the rubble, but there were no further details given or a reason for the two-day delay in reporting the rescue.
The Water Resources Ministry said in a statement Sunday that 69 dams in central Sichuan province were in danger of collapse, without giving any further details.
The government had earlier said some 391 dams had been affected by the quake, mostly small structures.
Sichuan is home to the world's largest water project, the Three Gorges dam located about 560 kilometres east of the epicentre, which authorities have said was not damaged in the quake.
Meanwhile, the State Meteorological Bureau said Sunday that parts of Sichuan would suffer "heavy and even in some areas torrential rains" later Sunday and Monday, warning of possible mudslides.
Some people paused Sunday to attend church almost two weeks after the quake hit. In Chengdu, worshippers gathered at the Ping'an Bridge Catholic church to say prayers for the victims.
A collection plate was also passed around.
One worshipper, retiree Liang Biqing, 58, said the disaster had changed her views on China's place in the world and shown her that people globally all share the same troubles.
"This shows that there are no barriers, no nationalities, when it comes to disasters," she said.
China desperately needs tents to house quake victims, with more than 15 million homes destroyed in the disaster.
The first of eight Russian military transport planes carrying tents, medicine and food landed Sunday in Chengdu, the country's ITAR-Tass news agency said. Other aid flights were to arrive by Monday.
Sri Lanka has also sent tents, clothes and other relief materials, Xinhua said.
That next to last one look like a fualt, right down the middle of the dam. Yes, but whose fault is it?”
If it is a fault line, then the fault is Gods.
Oops, Gaia did it!
During the civil war they called you a carpetbagger. Who would think that someone would be so unashamed as to publicly announce it.”
I have to call both Bravo Sierra and announce one of you may be a piker.
After Hurricane Andrew, our lil Bronze Brothers in Mexico quadrupled the price of their lemons and limes
Oh, your mother never taught you two wrongs don’t make a right.
Actually, I have heard it said that two Wongs do not make a white. As in:
(Quote)
Su Wong marries Lee Wong.
The next year, the Wongs have a new baby.
The nurse brings over a lovely, healthy, bouncy, but definitely a Caucasian, WHITE baby boy.
‘Congratulations,’ says the nurse to the new parents. ‘Well Mr. Wong, what will you and Mrs. Wong name the baby?’
The puzzled father looks at his new baby boy and says,
‘Well, two Wong’s don’t make a white, so I think we will name him...
Sum Ting Wong
(Unquote)
Funny.
Speaking of Wong, this is true. The Chinese pilot that turned he jet the wrong way and hit the U.S. spy plane, his name was wong wei. “Wei” is pronouced “way” in Chinese.
There was also something wrong when two friends who had been trying for years to have a baby finally found themselves with child - half black and half white. They were both white.
Obviously someone had been fooling around. The story is even more sad in that the discovery was not made until the moment the baby was born.
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