7.8 quake hits China

[Abaddon]

Er, they might just save some of them, Ab.

So far we have jumped from 4 dead to 8,500.. and this is still early days.

I'm sorry but an earthquake that powerful, in a populous place like China was always going to kill a horrible amount of people.

 

[LucyDuke]

A swarm of small quakes have been detected off the Pacific NW coast, that cant be good.

Only if you don't like earthquakes.

 

[emzie]

So far we have jumped from 4 dead to 8,500.. and this is still early days.

I'm sorry but an earthquake that powerful, in a populous place like China was always going to kill a horrible amount of people.

Yeah, a 7.9 (USGS said 7.9 in an update) in a populated area is going to kill a lot of people. A 7.9 earthquake in a populated area that doesn't have the greatest building codes is going to kill a lot more.*

*I assume building codes in western China aren't the same as they are in the east.

 

[Oruc]

A massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 8,500 people in China and left hundreds trapped under rubble, state run media report. About 900 students are reported buried under a collapsed school. China's Seismological Bureau said the quake affected more than half the country's provinces and municipalities
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/12/china.quake/index.html

Unfortunately the rule of the pessimists being usually correct was applied in this case.

Plently more where they came from.

 

[CaptainF]

Yeah, this is looking like a pretty serious disaster.

Poor Asia, first Burmese cyclones and now this...

 

[Sidhe]

I'm sorry but an earthquake that powerful, in a populous place like China was always going to kill a horrible amount of people.

What are you sorry about?

Terrible, did anyone see the school where 800 900 children are meant to have died? Wow the whole thing just caved in leaving only the two side walls standing.

7.8 is pretty big, the last time I heard one of that size or similar was Turkey I think?

Yeah, this is looking like a pretty serious disaster.

Poor Asia, first Burmese cyclones and now this...

Imagine if it happened in Burma! Certainly does seem that Asia's being single out at the moment. Has Ming the Merciless decided to destroy the Earth starting with the most populous continent, I wonder?

EDIT: to include visuals.

 

[Huayna Capac357]

First the cyclone in Burma, now this! It's just awful.

 

[Ecofarm]

So fudging is occouring

They were not playing with the news as far as I can tell. The 900 students trapped in the school were in the links he provided. The Chinese sites had all the news CNN did when I went to bed this morning.

 

[Evie]

Yeah, I just don't see the fudging.

They gave the death count they had. When they got confirmation of more death, they added those, and gave a higher death count.

Where's the fudging in that?

 

[stormbind]

Bare in mind this latest quake has its epicentre several miles NW of the city being reported from. Consequently, our news reports do not present the plight of peoples living in the towns and villages most hard hit.

The region is mountainous and presumably sparsely populated. I don't know.

 

[lutzj]

From a BBC article:

There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - just south-east of the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and 50 dead.

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".

We need to change earthquake procedures in schools from "hide under desks and in doorways" to "get the hell out!"



EDIT: The death count is now over 10,000, and the mountainous province around the epicenter hasn't even reported it deaths yet. This looks very bad.

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Latest I heard was 10,000 dead.

 

[lutzj]

Latest I heard was 10,000 dead.

Darn, you beat me to it.

 

[skadistic]

Does any one know if China is accepting aid from abroad?

 

[Chazumi]

We need to change earthquake procedures in schools from "hide under desks and in doorways" to "get the hell out!"

That wouldn't work, because you have people like me who would be throwing fists and chairs at people to get to the door first.

 

[eoc]

Does any one know if China is accepting aid from abroad?

no reporting of any aids from abroad by now. I will give the message as soon as I know.

 

[Frank2386]

Alot of my relatives live right where the earthquake happened right now i can't even call them im so worried

 

[eoc]

Alot of my relatives live right where the earthquake happened right now i can't even call them im so worried

国家电网，电信局，正在紧急抢修，因为四川山多路险，隧道坍塌，给救援带来不少难度，救援队大部分现在被堵在都江堰，只凭借飞机救援是远远不够的，现在正在打通道路，今天上午应该能够全部打通。温家宝正在灾区指挥救援。你现在打电话估计打不通，除非打卫星电话，不过，老百姓没几个用卫星电话的。（英文不好，麻烦翻译下儿）

 

[eoc]

to frank，两万肆千解放军已经空投到灾区了，还会陆续空投。请不要过分担心，对于天灾我们是无能为力的。

 

[CaptainF]

国家电网，电信局，正在紧急抢修，因为四川山多路险，隧道坍塌，给救援带来不少难度，救援队大部分现在被堵在都江堰，只凭借飞机救援是远远不够的，现在正在打通道路，今天上午应该能够全部打通。温家宝正在灾区指挥救援。你现在打电话估计打不通，除非打卫星电话，不过，老百姓没几个用卫星电话的。（英文不好，麻烦翻译下儿）

Wow, it's cool that I have Chinese script so I can see all the pretty characters. Too bad I don't understand what they all mean...

I'm sure that I understand the jist of it though...