Earthquake in China
May 13th, 2008 Posted in UncategorizedEveryone has probably seen by now that there was a pretty severe earthquake in the Sichuan Province of China. Thank you to everyone who has sent me emails and pinged me. My relatives and family in Chengdu are fine and were not severely affected by the event. The Chinese government has been very quick to react to the event and I am amazed by how courteous people are when it comes down to the basics. Unlike the response with Hurricane Rita in the US, people are not raiding electronic stores or stealing. In Beijing, many buildings were evacuated and the government sent text messages to everyone to inform them of what happened.
In case any of you are wondering, I did not really feel the effects of (or at least didn’t notice) the earthquake here in Shenzhen but there were reports that it was felt in Hong Kong. At this time, many humanitarian agencies are encouraging financial aid opposed to physical aid due to the condition of roads and the transport system. Donations can be made at the China Red Cross site.
There is another blog at the Shanghaiist which is providing more real-time updates of the situation.
One Response to “Earthquake in China”
By Ian Randall on May 13, 2008
While the Chinese Government has been criticized for poor handling of protesters in Tibet and other human rights violations over a number of years, they should be congratulated for how well they have handled this earthquake in the Sichuan province.
Perhaps the Burmese Military Government can also take note of how to properly handle a natural disaster in the future by emulating how well China has handled this particular event.
It is also a testament to the basic decency and humanity of the Chinese people effected by this disaster by how well they have behaved during and in the aftermath of this event.
Perhaps some people in the USA (and other places) can also learn from this example also.