In the mid-70’s, an earthquake of similar magnitude hit the same region and the death toll was close to 250,000.
These people really need our prayers.
......Bob
Your mention of the 70s quake doesn't surprise me. I doubt the buildings are all that safe for higher scale earthquakes.
My heart does go out to them. I agree that we should be praying for them.
I hope the Chinese government allows relief efforts to take place without interference, unlike what's going on in Myanmar. (Burma)
Actually, the 7.8 Tangshan Quake of ‘76 was not in the same area. This was central China (since the US is almost exactly the same size, think of the area Wichita, KS), and Tangshan is northeast of Beijing (think Trenton, NJ).
China’s recent modernization should keep the final tally lower than Tangshan’s count. Also, the Tangshan quake hit at 3am, and was followed by a 7.7 aftershock at 7pm that night while they were starting recovery efforts.
Evidently China has made simply incredible strides forward in technology and social skills — that is civil skills — since that era.
That earthquark( so-called Tangshan earthquake) did not hit the same region. Tanshan is in the northeast of China, but Wenchuan is in the southwest, which also has a much lower density of population.