Posts Tagged ‘Sichuan’

An unpleasant reminder

Today is exactly four month after the 8.0Ms earthquake which killed more than 80,000 people in Sichuan Province, China.

Aftershocks were seem to be finally dying out in just few weeks ago. But If a demon like creature really exist, it sure knows when to come out - there were at least 3 M 4.0+ aftershocks recorded since yesterday, the largest one happened early this morning, measured Mb 5.4 in northern part of Sichuan Province.

And my friends and family members in the province also reported countless number of small shocks - none of them were destructive, but sure reminded people what was happened four month ago.

Those aftershocks really worried me. The epicentre of one aftershock yesterday was only about 50km from the provincial capital, Chengdu(pop ~11m. , 4m. metropolitan), being the closest so far(it was first reported of being only 30km from Chengdu).

If a strong aftershock happens in the area the consequences would be catastrophic ... given that most people are tired of aftershocks and no one bothers to walk out of buildings when an aftershock happens.

The biggest one, Mb 5.4 this morning,  depth of that earthquake was only 6 km below the surface - it's an extremely shallow yet relatively strong quake, and I'm glad that the magnitude wasn't anything higher than 5.5. The region just cannot bear that kind of shallow quake again.

Please help China’s earthquake victims

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan Province, China has so far killed 20,000 people in the area, with millions affected.

This death toll is expected to reach 50,000 in near future as more bodies recovered from under the rubbles.

Those who survived are in urgent need of clean water, food, proper shelter and medicines or they may soon facing new disasters like starvation and diseases.

Sichuan is my home province. I have many friends and relatives live in the area. All of them survived, but for some, their houses, their possessions, everything they had have been lost. They are tramatised and don't know how to live through.

I cannot imagine the mental suffers people who lost their family members, their friends, their beloved ones are now having.

A lot of schools collapsed in the earthquake. Hundreds of students are still stranded under tons of rubbles. For one town, 80% of young generation might be lost in this disaster. I cannot imagine what enormous amount of courage would required to help those parents to live through this hard time.

Even a big country like China cannot cope a natural disaster in this scale. There is a shortage of tents, clean water, and transport equipment to get those aids to the people affected. Lightweight rescue tools such as hammer and jack are also in desperate shortage.

We have the power to help.

We may not have the ability to resurge those who passed away in this very unfortunate natural disaster, but we can help by reduce amount of the unneccessary death after the disaster simply just because there is lack of clean water or food.

With your donation, we can provide the people affected food and clean water to help them survive through possibly hardest time of their lives.

Most importantly, our help give them hope. They will know that they are not alone, people around the world care about them, and want help them to live on, to rebuild their home, their once a peaceful town in  beautiful mountain valleys.

This appeal is also very personal. I've been to many of the towns destoryed in this earthquake many times before: the region was my usual summer camp ground. Please take my word, the people there were the friendliest and kindest locals I've never seen in other parts of China and the World. I really don't know what they have done to deserve such a punishment.

Red Cross New Zealand and around the world are now taking donations. If you are reading this from New Zealand, please visit here to make a donation(select campaign "China Earthquake"). If you are reading in other parts of the World, please contact your local Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red Crystal to ask the details on how to make a donation to help china earthquake victims or visit their website.

There is a chinese proverb says something like "a picture's worth a thousand words".If all I said cannot persuade you to help them, I think you should have a look this photo (warning: shock picture)before you turn down my appeal.

Earthquake in China

As you may know, a powerful earthquake measured 7.8 on richter scale hit Sichuan, south-western province of China early yesterday. The earthquake was felt from Beijing to as far as Pakistan’s northland region and Bangkok, Thailand.

The latest death toll is at least 10,000 people are feared dead.

I have some close relatives and many friends in the Chengdu City, provincial capital of Sichuan Province and surrounding regions. The city is just located about 100 km away from the epicentre. I’m still unable to contact most of them at the moment due to heavy destruction of telecommunication equipment in the area.

The city government has confirmed that at least 300 people have died. From the ones I’m able to contact, I understand that most of 5 million+ Chengdu people in the city were too afraid to go home, they have spent last night on the street, with occasional heavy rains.

In towns close to the epicentre, which I have visited most of them before, thousands of people have died. In one county alone, up to 5,000 people are feared dead.

And the authority is still struggling to reach the epicentre, towns in Wenchuan County. I’ve been to the region before, I still remember clearly that during my visit I have to be on the car for a whole day to travel just 450km in this mountainous region .

There are at least 60,000 people live just right on the epicentre and we still know nothing about their situation because all the road are blocked and the heavy rain prevented helicopters to reach the region.

I pray for the god to show mercy on those people.