2008 Sichuan Earthquake Blog

Fund Raising Performance for 5.12 Earthquake Victims in China

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

click here to download the poster for this event.

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Admission is free. Please click here to RSVP (recommended).

Time: 05:30 PM to 8:30 PM, 05/25 (Sunday)

Location: Cowin Center, Teachers College, Columbia University

525 West 120th Street, New York, NY

The entrance will be on the Broadway close to 120th street

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A 8 magnitude earthquake stuck the central Sichuan Province May 12, 2008, causing significant civilian casualties, structural damage, and disrupted power lines and other vital services. At least 28,881 people have died so far in Sichuan, Shan Xi, Gan Su, and Yun Nan. The Sichuan earthquake may eventually claim as many as 50,000 lives.

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No matter where we are from, no matter what color we are, no matter what language we speak, we all feel so sad about the catastrophe. That is because we are not different from those people who lost parents, lovers, siblings, kids, friends and colleagues in the earthquake. Let’s do something for the victims of 5.12 Earthquake. Let’s share our love and bless with them. Let’s give them a hand.

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To assist China’s relief efforts in areas affected by the earthquake, various organizations in USA have organized many donation events. By far USA government, organizations, and people have made donation worth of more than 23 million dollars with palletized loads of food, water containers, blankets, lanterns, etc.

We organize this event to appreciate the contribution by the people who feel concern about the earthquake victims in China. Also we wish more people will give a hand to the victims through this activity.

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Chinese President expresses gratitudes for foreign aid in quake relief

Monday, May 19th, 2008

CHENGDU, May 18 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Hu Jintao Saturday night expressed gratitude to foreign countries and people who have offered aid since a major earthquake struck the country.

“On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the State Council and the Central Military Commission, I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends that have contributed to our quake-relief work,” Hu said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao Saturday night expressed gratitudes to foreign countries and people who have offered aid since a major earthquake struck the country.

Hu, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a meeting on rescue and relief work after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake ravaged southwestern Sichuan Province Monday afternoon.

Hu also conveyed his greetings to the government officials and people in the disaster-hit areas, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), armed police, militia, reservists, public security staff, medical personnel, journalists and all people making “selfless devotions” to the quake-devastated areas.

More than 200 rescuers from Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Singapore are in Sichuan to help with the rescue and disaster relief work.

A 61-year-old woman was saved alive Saturday evening by Russian rescuers after being buried for up to 127 hours in the rubble, the first survivor found by foreign rescuers.

The earthquake, the worst in decades, had caused 28,881 deaths nationwide as of 2 p.m. Saturday. Many countries have offered help including making donations and sending rescue teams.

QUAKE RELIEF ATOP GOVERNMENT WORK AGENDA

In the meeting, Hu urged local governments at all levels and relevant central government departments to take quake relief as the most important and pressing issue in their work.

He called for unremitting efforts to search for and rescue the trapped people though more than five days had passed after the disaster.

“We should put people first and saving people’s lives is still the top priority of the relief work,” he said.

Troops, armed police, and public security personnel should reach villages and search every collapsed buildings to save the people, he said.

Hu also called for all-out efforts to save and cure injured survivors, urging to transfer them to hospitals with better conditions.

Hygiene measures in the quake-hit areas should be beefed up to prevent the spread of diseases, and more medical experts should be sent to these areas to help prevent and control possible epidemics, Hu said.

During the meeting, Hu expressed his concern for the people in the quake-devastated areas, calling for arrangements of supplies of daily necessities to meet people’s demands.

Food, clothes, drinking water and temporary shelters must be ensured, he emphasized.

Hu also underscored social stability in quake hit areas, ordering officials to give considerate comfort and condolence to people to ensure a peaceful social environment.

“We must keep highly alert” against aftershocks and avoid further losses, he warned.

Hu also called for tightened monitoring and prevention measures on geological disasters such as landslides and mud-rock flows.

He said early planning is important for reconstruction as the country now faces a challenging task in this regard.

He also ordered early preparations and arrangements to deal with the issues of orphans, seniors and disabled.

The meeting was presided over by Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, who urged implementation of the overall quake-relief strategies of the central government.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/18/content_8196898.htm

Chinese President Hu Jintao Saturday night speaks at a meeting on rescue and relief work of the earthquake, expressing gratitudes to foreign countries and people who have offered aid since a major earthquake struck the country. (Xinhua Photo)

Image Attachment: Hu.jpg (2008-5-18 09:01 AM, 26.14 K)

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Foreign rescuers battle for lives in China’s quake zone

Monday, May 19th, 2008

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-17 19:43

Qingchuan — Foreign rescue teams have joined the front line in the battle to free those trapped after Monday’s devastating earthquake in southwest China.

The second group of 29 Japanese earthquake rescuers joined their colleagues in Beichuan County, one of the worst hit areas in Sichuan Province, to continue rescue operations.

The first group of 31 well-equipped Japanese rescuers arrived at Qingchuan Friday afternoon before leaving for Beichuan.

With the help of fiber scopes, grabs and drilling equipment, they dug out the corpses of two victims, Song Aimei and her 70-day-old baby, from the debris of a dormitory after 16 hours of work.

They had found no signs of life in the building which belonged to the Qingchuan County Hospital of Chinese Traditional Medicine, according to a Xinhua reporter who witnessed the rescue work.

Takashi Koizumi, head of the Japanese team, expressed condolences, and said it’s very pity not to find anyone alive.

Also in Sichuan, rescuers from the Republic of Korea (ROK) have recovered two bodies from the debris of the Hongda chemical plant in Yinghua township, of Shifang, where two chemical plants were destroyed in the earthquake, leaking 80 tons of ammonia and forcing more than 6,000 people to evacuate.

The ROK rescue team, with 41 members, arrived at Shifang at Saturday midnight with life detection equipment, breathing apparatus, gas masks and searching dogs.

“We will give 100 percent even if there is just one percent of hope,” said the team head surnamed Kim, an experienced disaster relief worker.

Russian and Singaporean rescue teams are also at work in some of the worst hit areas.

Meanwhile, international emergency aid continued to flow into the quake zone.

A third batch of relief materials, including tents and food, is expected to arrive in Chengdu, Sichuan provincial capital, from Russia on Saturday afternoon. Russia had flown in 60 tons of humanitarian aid in two flights on Wednesday and Thursday, including tents and blankets.

Two military aircraft of Pakistan arrived in Chengdu on Friday evening, carrying tents, blankets, bottled water and medicines.

A planeload of humanitarian aid from the Singaporean government is expected to arrive in Chengdu on Saturday evening, including disinfectant tablets for drinking water, tents, stretchers, cutters, food and drinks.

French aid for China would arrive on Saturday evening by a chartered flight, including tents, sleeping bags, quilts and medicine cabinets.

Meanwhile, the Philippines is scheduled to deliver two batches of humanitarian aid to China consisting of blankets and bottled water. The first batch of materials would be transferred to the earthquake-hit areas on arrival on Saturday night.

Another plane of Spanish materials was to arrive on Saturday afternoon, with anti-inflammation pills such as penicillin and medical equipment, including respirators.

The 7.8-magnitude quake centered on Wenchuan county, 159 km northwest of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, struck on Monday. Death toll in Sichuan had risen to 28,300 by by 4 pm Saturday.

Nationwide, the tremor death toll rose to 28,881 as of 2 pm Saturday, while 198,347 people were injured, according to the Information Office of the State Council.

Aftershocks are still occurring in Qingchuan. Most telecommunications link have been restored, but cell phone connections are unstable.

China’s Foreign Ministry established a rescue and relief working group in Chengdu to keep close contact with the international rescue teams in the worst-hit areas.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/chi … ntent_6692818_2.htm

A Japanese rescue team leaves the Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo as they head for China to take part in relief efforts in areas hit by Monday’s devastating earthquake, May 15, 2008. [Agencies]

Image Attachment: japanese rescuers.jpg (2008-5-18 04:27 AM, 143.28 K)

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China quake death toll rises to 22,069

Monday, May 19th, 2008

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-16 21:16

BEIJING – The death toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southwest China’s Sichuan Province rose to 22,069 nationwide as of 2 p.m. Friday, while 168,669 people were injured, according to the emergency response office of the State Council.

Altogether 21,577 people were killed in Sichuan, close to 2,000 up from Thursday, and 159,006 injured.

In its neighbouring regions, 364 were killed in Gansu, 109 in Shaanxi, 15 in Chongqing, 2 in Henan, one in Yunnan, and one in Hubei.

A rescue headquarters headed by Premier Wen Jiabao under the State Council had said on Thursday that it feared total death toll of Monday’s quake could top 50,000.

Nearly 100 hours after Monday’s powerful quake, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen on Friday again urged continued efforts in quake rescue and relief work and giving top priority to the saving of people’s lives.

A meeting held between the two Chinese top leaders said the previous relief work had been progressing orderly and effectively, which paved a smooth way for the following work.

In face of the pressing time, uttermost efforts must be made if only there exists the slimmest hope of survivors, the meeting said.

In the meantime, a total of 181,460 tents, 170,000 cotton-paded clothes and 220,000 quilts had been allocated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs for the quake-hit areas.

The ministry is planning to arrange adoptions of quake orphans, with the number of homeless children increasing and more concerned organizations and individuals proposing for adoption. The orphans are currently taken care of by local governments.

33 Survirors Rescued in Beichuan

Thirty-three more survivors were pulled out of debris in Beichuan county in southwest China on Friday as rescue efforts entered the fourth day since the 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Monday.

The total number of survivors saved in Beichuan in Sichuan Province rose to 13,595, rescuers said.

Beichuan, a county of about 160,000 people, is one of the worst-hit region, with 80 percent of the buildings collapsed and at least 7,000 lives lost.

A 46-year-old survivor, Peng Zhijun, had lived on cigarettes, paper napkins and his urine when he was buried in the rubble in the past four days. He was still sober-minded almost 100 hours after the quake.

Doctors said he suffered bone fractures in the left arm and slight injuries in the legs, but the other parts of his body were basically in good condition.

“Natural disasters cannot be avoided. I had to save me from myself,” Peng told reporters Friday evening.

He recalled that more than 10 people had been buried beside him in the rubble. “At the very beginning, they were all alive. But unfortunately, they died one after another.”

“I had encouraged some of them to drink their urine. But they did not listen,” he said.

Zhang Yan, a 36-year-old woman pharmacist, was rescued at 2:36 p.m. Friday. She was unconscious and soldiers carried her on their backs to a nearby medical center.

A 72-year-old woman named Deng Zhongqun was found by soldiers after being stranded at her badly damaged hillside house. She had been injured by a falling girder and had eaten only nuts over the past four days.

“Thank goodness for the soldiers. I only weigh 65 kilograms and they carried me by turns on their backs, walking miles to reach the medical station,” said Deng.

The death toll in Sichuan alone exceeded 21,500 while 14,000 others remained buried as of 4 p.m. Friday, vice provincial governor Li Chengyun said at a press conference.

He said that 159,000 people were injured in the massive earthquake and 4.8 million people had been relocated.

Friday’s death toll rose by about 2,000 from that of Thursday.

Sichuan had experienced 4,432 aftershocks in the past four days, Li said.

The national death toll from the earthquake rose to 22,069 as of 2 p.m. Friday, while 168,669 people were injured, the latest government statistics show.

In addition to the deaths in Sichuan, 364 were killed in Gansu Province, 109 in Shaanxi Province, 15 in Chongqing Municipality, two in Henan Province, one in Yunnan Province and one in Hubei Province.

The central government allocated another 1.17 billion yuan ($167 million) to the relief fund for quake-hit areas on Friday. This brought the disaster relief fund from the central budget to 3.41 billion yuan.

Public donations in both cash and goods to the quake-hit areas rose to 3.175 billion yuan as of 4 pm Friday, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

China has mobilized more than 130,000 troops for rescue operations, who were desperate to excavate survivors despite the passing of the prime time for survivors’ rescue — 72 hours after the quake.

Foreign rescue teams from Japan, Russia, the Republic of Korea and Singapore have arrived in Sichuan to aid the disaster relief efforts.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05/16/content_6691744.htm

A nurse and a soldier help a patient (C) to cross a bridge in the city of Beichuan, located around 150 km north of Chengdu, in Sichuan Province May 16, 2008. [Agencies]

Image Attachment: nurse.jpg (2008-5-17 04:41 PM, 30.31 K)

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Life and death at a school

Monday, May 19th, 2008

By Rong Xiandong, Xiao Ting in Shifang and Nie Ligao in Beijing (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-05-16 00:54
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05/16/content_6688669.htm

Shifang City, Sichuan — Tang Hong held one of his students in arms and sheltered several others with his body when rescue workers found him in rubbles.

The lives of the students he thus protected were saved but not his.

The 20-something young teacher would have escaped the tragedy because he had enough time to flee from his classroom on the ground floor.

But he and 6 colleagues were confirmed dead at the Hongbai Town Central School of Shifang City, one of the worst quake-ravaged areas,74 km southeast to the epicenter. Shifang, a city of 430,000, had registered 3,000 deaths by the killer earthquake, which jolted the southwest Chinese province on May 12.

Among the dead, 14-year-old Feng Peipei had called her mother several days before the earthquake, and promised she would give her a gift for the Mother’s Day and her mother’s birthday.

All the mother received was news about her daughter’s death.

At least 500 of the total 732 students at the school were buried and it is estimated that only 100 could survive.

Only one gas station still stands on the ruins at the Hongbai Town, which is home to nearly 10,000 dwellers.

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Quake disaster unites Chinese nation

Monday, May 19th, 2008

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-15
By Xinhua writer Zhou Yan

BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) –

The 7.8 earthquake that jolted southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday is undoubtedly one of the nation’s worst disasters in recent decades.

Nearly 15,000 lives were lost and about twice as many people are feared to have still been buried in the rubble on Wednesday.

The disaster pulls everyone’s heartstrings, and the Chinese nation has been united to cope with its common plight, extend help and pray for more people to survive.

Tears swelled in my eyes when I saw towns and cities were flattened and children of my son’s age were buried in the rubble.

When my best friend cried over the dead in her hometown, we all felt her loss.

Yet we gasped at the courage, wisdom and perseverance of some survivors: a 6-year-old who nibbled at an apple for more than 40 hours in the ruins until she was pulled out by rescuers; a senior high school boy who calmly told the other boys to “be brave” and the girls “not to cry” and wrenched open a crumbling wall through which 33 classmates escaped.

While we lament over the lost lives, we feel clearly the human nature of love, even amid disaster.

Love helped a 3-year-old girl survive the quake, underneath the dead bodies of her parents.

Love saved a child in the arms of his kindergarten teacher, who sandwiched himself between the boy and a falling floor slab and died.

Driven by love, a businesswoman risked her life to enter her ruined store to find cloth for shrouds to preserve the dignity of the dead.

Love makes the world go ’round.

Chinese compatriots across the globe have opened their wallets to donate cash. Many also rummaged through their wardrobes for clothing, quilts and sheets, and rolled up their sleeves to donate blood for the quake victims.

By Wednesday, Beijingers had filled the city’s blood bank and authorities had to tell the waiting crowds to leave their phone numbers and wait until more blood is needed.

As of 4 p.m. on Wednesday, donations of cash and goods to the quake-hit areas were valued at 877 million yuan (125 million U.S. dollars), according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

A group of 18 mountaineers from Beijing, including doctors, business owners and office workers, flew to Pengzhou, a quake-hit area in Sichuan on Wednesday, hoping to help rescue the victims with their field survival skills.

Where there’s life, there’s hope.

“We have to save people at all costs!” At Premier Wen Jiabao’s plea, 90 more helicopters were sent to quake-hit areas on Thursday. More People’s Liberation Army soldiers have parachuted into the most remote regions. Rescuers are searching the ruins for life. Supplies are being airdropped and communication is being restored.

We watch closely the rescue work and the fate of those buried in the rubble. All the while, we cross our fingers, hoping our nation will make it through the trial.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8176629.htm

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Taiwan chartered flight arrives in Sichuan with relief materials

Monday, May 19th, 2008

www.chinaview.cn 2008-05-15

The chartered freight flight of the Taiwan-based China Airlines has arrived at Chengdu loaded with relief materials to quake-hit regions in Sichuan.

It carried 110 tonnes of blankets, tents, clothes, first aid packets and other materials donated by Taiwan’s charity institutions.

The aid would go to the China Charity Federation and the Red Cross Society of China’s Sichuan Branch.

The mainland also welcomes an earthquake rescue team sent by the Red Cross organization of Taiwan to help with relief work, an official said.

Chen Yunlin, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said Thursday his office and the Red Cross Society of the mainland would assist the rescuers from Taiwan in reaching the quake zone at an earliest time possible.

“We understand the concerns of the Taiwan compatriots toward the quake victims,” Chen said and thanked them for their generosity and help.

Since the quake struck on Monday, people from all walks of life in Taiwan had donated money and materials to the affected people and expressed many times their willingness to send rescuers to the quake areas, he said.

The Red Cross Society in Taiwan have pledged 300,000 U.S. dollars for the relief efforts, and Taiwan enterprises and individuals have also contributed more than 200 million yuan (28.6million U.S. dollars).

“The moves reflected people’s affection across the Taiwan Strait at a time of crisis,” Chen said.

The mainland side has been working hard to rescue the injured and stranded Taiwan tourists and business people since the quake hit, he said.

He expressed grief over the death of two Taiwan compatriots during the disaster, and sent condolences to their families.

At present, the majority of Taiwan tourists were safe, but one tourist group was still out of contact, he said.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday have killed more than 19,500 people.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8180376.htm

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2008 Sichuan Earthquake Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Fund Raising Performance for 5.12 Earthquake Victims in China

Chinese President expresses gratitudes for foreign aid in quake relief

Foreign rescuers battle for lives in China’s quake zone

China quake death toll rises to 22,069

Life and death at a school

Quake disaster unites Chinese nation

Taiwan chartered flight arrives in Sichuan with relief materials

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