First I'm okay. I live in Shanghai, the earthquake hit yesterday May 12, 2008 around 2 P.M in Sichaun province 60 miles away from Chengdu. Chengdu is a good 1000 miles west of Shanghai, the quake is supposed to have felt all the way from Pakistan to Vietnam. That's insane.
If Chengdu had been directly hit, what we are seeing now would be a walk in the park. With that said, what we are seeing now in Sichuan is terrible. There are images in the New York times that do a pretty good job of outlining the damage, but the images on the chinese websites are absolutley devastating and heartbreaking. Out of respect, I am not going to post gruesome pictures. However, the attached one broke my heart, good Lord, they're just babies.
The openness and the response by the chinese government is in stark contrast to the idiocy displayed by the Myanmar government. The government has been constantly updating the death tolls and they match with all western newspaper accounts as well. In 1976 July 28, an earthquake hit Tangshan which is near where I am traveling to right now. Tangshan is close to Beijing, farther away than Shanghai is to Chengdu. it killed over 200,000 people and the government tried to cover it up and they almost lost the support of the people. They have learned the lesson it seems and the president himself flew in immediately to the epicenter and he was shown directing rescue efforts from his plane. Of course it is somewhat staged, but not like that doesn't happen in the States....
This is no time for snide political reactions, pray people, pray for the victims, the survivors, the survivors who had to choose between their child and their parents or their wives, siblings on whom to rescue and who to perish, and now they have to live with that decision for the rest of their lives. Pray for us all to do something, to make a difference to the least of our brothers. May the good Lord keep us all.
You can donate to the redcross of china. A good authority on Non governmental organizations in China has informed us that the RedCross of China will distribute as needed and not pilfer your donations. http://www.redcross.org.cn/. I tried and it is crashed right now. I hope some of you get through.
I am so torn about donating to the mynmar disaster but I will go through Doctors without borders because they have been allowed to have access. Since Myanmar is worse off in resources than China, if I had to pick one, I would pick Myanmar. But find a good charity that can deliver the goods...literally. Here's one that has people already on the ground http://www.theirc.org/news/irc-cyclone-emergency-myanmar0509.html
If Chengdu had been directly hit, what we are seeing now would be a walk in the park. With that said, what we are seeing now in Sichuan is terrible. There are images in the New York times that do a pretty good job of outlining the damage, but the images on the chinese websites are absolutley devastating and heartbreaking. Out of respect, I am not going to post gruesome pictures. However, the attached one broke my heart, good Lord, they're just babies.
The openness and the response by the chinese government is in stark contrast to the idiocy displayed by the Myanmar government. The government has been constantly updating the death tolls and they match with all western newspaper accounts as well. In 1976 July 28, an earthquake hit Tangshan which is near where I am traveling to right now. Tangshan is close to Beijing, farther away than Shanghai is to Chengdu. it killed over 200,000 people and the government tried to cover it up and they almost lost the support of the people. They have learned the lesson it seems and the president himself flew in immediately to the epicenter and he was shown directing rescue efforts from his plane. Of course it is somewhat staged, but not like that doesn't happen in the States....
This is no time for snide political reactions, pray people, pray for the victims, the survivors, the survivors who had to choose between their child and their parents or their wives, siblings on whom to rescue and who to perish, and now they have to live with that decision for the rest of their lives. Pray for us all to do something, to make a difference to the least of our brothers. May the good Lord keep us all.
You can donate to the redcross of china. A good authority on Non governmental organizations in China has informed us that the RedCross of China will distribute as needed and not pilfer your donations. http://www.redcross.org.cn/. I tried and it is crashed right now. I hope some of you get through.
I am so torn about donating to the mynmar disaster but I will go through Doctors without borders because they have been allowed to have access. Since Myanmar is worse off in resources than China, if I had to pick one, I would pick Myanmar. But find a good charity that can deliver the goods...literally. Here's one that has people already on the ground http://www.theirc.org/news/irc-cyclone-emergency-myanmar0509.html
Let us help the least of our brothers during their time of need.
China Womans federation, Poverty Alleviation Federation, and the Youth Development Foundation are also good places to donate for China. Will fill in more as I know more.
10,000 is the death toll right now. Don't be surprised if it ends up being 10 times that. The roads to a lot of the villages are blocked by rockslides and landslides and rescue vehicles and personnel are blocked from gaining access...
Heartbreaking was watching my friend JZ (alias) at work almost break down in tears as tried to explain the pictures he was seeing. He's 21 years old, heart of gold.
1 comment:
Hey buddy! I am so glad to hear you are ok..our company is starting a relief fund for this as they have offices in china. I have tried calling with little success. i am going to try again tonight, try calling me as well!
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