Sleepingless Night!
Posted on 05/12/2008 12:27:28 AM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
An earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale has hit China's Sichuan province. The tremor was felt across the entire region - shaking buildings in the capital, Beijing, as well as the Thai capital, Bangkok, and Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. US Geological Survey said the quake struck 57 miles north-west of the city of Chengdu at 2.29pm local time (6.28am GMT).
Some 10 million people live in Chengdu.
That's a very difficult task. Digging by hand is the only hope at this point.
Thank God for the eleven children saved and prayers for the children who didn't make it and for their families.
until 5:49pm beijing time. there’d been 2365 aftershocks, 14reach M5 level,three reach M6 level
the dam at Zipingpu -— Seemingly in control because nothing about the dam burst is mentioned in recent news.
Fortunately, no flood..
but Statistics of up to 1900 aftershocks,
landslides,stormy weather
add difficulty to the rescue work.
Sleepingless Night!
That's good to hear that they have enough emergency supplies right now, that you and other people are making donations, and that relief operations are being re-supplied as the need arises.
It also sounds as if your Premier is doing all he can to help and that people are proud of his efforts. That's good.
We are joining you in your prayers.
This is heartbreaking. May God bless and comfort you all.
Dear God.
May.13,in the one of most serious disaster center---Han Wang town Mian Zhu county in Sichuan,after over ten hours' hard work,one woman was rescued finally. Also CRI update,around 200 people are rescued just now
there is no electricity and lighting in the city of Mianzhu
In order to avoid the re-collapse,the rescue team members are digging by their hands,and some of their nails are broken off.The rescue teams,such as doctors/soldieries from other provinces are going there. Part of front line soldieries are fixing the damaged roads now.
That's what I was thinking. How many cities have been devastated? I can't keep track.
The US could get anywhere in China with blackhawks and some C-130’s. With aid and medical staff and SAR workers..
Amen to that.
Looking at all these photos it is clear that unreinforced concrete and masonry buildings, again, are death traps.
Other countries could fly over the terrain and drop tents and care packages down to the people.
One earthquake expert said the death toll would be 50,000...
another earthquake expert said 50,000 to 100,000.
So expect the death tolls to start rising rapidly.
At first I thought the China government was trying to squash the numbers due to the olympics but I think they understand that they will have a hard time trying to hide the total death toll in this day and age.
rumor say that the chinese army had sent a band of airborne soldiers to the region but resulted in four deaths——the quake area had been raining heavily after the tragedy
click map to enlarge
Mianzhu: 1,500 confirmed dead and 10,000 people remained buried in rubble.
Dujiangyan: about 900 teenagers were buried under a collapsed three-story school building. - At a second school in Dujiangyan, fewer than 100 of 420 students survived, Xinhua reported.
Zipingpu Hydropower plant stopped by quake - According to the Sichuan provincial government on Tuesday morning, the Wenchuan earthquake has caused severe cracks in the dam of the Zipingpu Hydropower Station. The plant and associated buildings have collapsed, and some are partly sunk. The whole installation is out of commission. Located at the junction of Dujiangyan City and Wenchuan County on the upper Minjiang River, the Zipingpu Hydropower Plant was one of the first 10 landmark projects of the Western Development plan. It is also the principal project in the province’s 10th five-year plan. The station was brought into service in 2006.
Woolong: home to more than 100 giant pandas, whose fate is not known - Fifteen missing British tourists were believed in that area at the time of the quake and were out of reach.
Shifang: Where the quake sparked a major chemical leak of liquid ammonia, about 600 people died and as many as 2,300 remained buried, Xinhua said.
Wenchuan: (very top and at middle of map) Roads are cut off and this is the city closest to the Epicenter. 105,000 to 131,000 reported to live here, only 30,000 reported as ok so far. Picture of Wenchuan
A team of 1,300 army medics and soldiers has reached the area at the epicenter of China's earthquake, the first sizeable relief force to get there, state media reported. The team immediately began searching for survivors and treating the injured in Wenchuan county after being forced to hike in overland due to massive damage to roads in the region, Xinhua news agency reported. The team arrived nearly 24 hours after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck Wenchuan, leaving tens of thousands of people dead or missing in Sichuan and neighboring provinces.
Chengdu: Xinhua reported that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe.
Not listed on above map...
Beichuan: Just east of the epicenter (Wenchuan), 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school in Beichuan county, a more than six-story building reduced to a pile of rubble about two yards (meters) high, according to Xinhua. The Beichuan school had more than 2,000 students and teachers in three school buildings. The other two buildings collapsed partially, Xinhua said.
It said up to 7,000 people were killed and 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan.
Huixian County in Gansu Province
The 40-carriage train, carrying 13 petrol tanks, derailed in Huixian County, Gansu Province, along the Baoji-Chengdu line. The locomotive caught fire first, then the 13 oil tanks buried by rocks were also ablaze, said a spokesman with the Longnan municipal government. The line was closed after the accident.
The train's two drivers were injured and have been sent to hospital. More than 900 people living nearby were evacuated. The train was still burning at 5 a.m. Tuesday and the oil tanks were likely to explode, forcing the withdrawal of fire fighters to six kilometer away.
And doesn’t China have a one child rule? This many have lost their only child. Horrifying.
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