An earthquake measuring 7.8 on Richter scale struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday (May 12) at 2.28pm Beijing time.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (with the megaphone) is at the disaster zone to coordinate the rescue and relief effort (Image by Xinhuanet)
The death toll is 11921 at the time of writing, and the number is expected to rise as rescue missions are being carried on. The worst hit area is the Beichuan county, about 160 kilometres northeast of the quake epicentre in Wenchuan.
This is the worst earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake which claimed around 250,000 lives.
Why are these tragedies happening around the world? Cyclones, earthquakes, tornados, fires, wars,…what next?
i heard from news, there are 60,000 people still buried, pray this people can survive. so many natural disaster happening, i agree with emilie, it sounds scarry.
i am quite saddened by this tragedy too even though i’m on the other side of the world. seeing so many innocents die, buried and suffer…i hope they can recover soon.
wooo…we cannot control these tragedies…agree to others.. its scary, but there are some people who use this to make fun of others…
i just heard in the local news that there are chain messages which says that after China our country Philippines would be the next to experience earthquake after investigating they found it was a hoax…
although it can give warning i think other people should not see these things as a joke…it’s so sad that there are people like these…maybe that is why God is giving us punishments for all our wrong doings…
i pray for the victims of this tragic incident…specially the young ones…also in Myanmar…
there’s news about the quake on tv everyday.
i just saw one with president hu jintao speaking with a young girl who survived but lost her family members. she was crying so badly and president was telling her to be strong and that the government will help them whenever and always.
it was very touching and i was holding in my tears too.
yellowpaint94… countries at the earthquake zone will always have the risk, and it’s not something that we could predict yet.
bb… I think that was prime Wen Jiabao instead; he is the one that is at the quake zone at the moment.
To be frank, I think the Chinese government is doing a great job with their rescue and relieve mission.
i heard a pregnant lady was found alive after a couple of days in the rumble.
woops, thanks for correcting me.
i get the two of them mixed up sometimes.
my family is planning to donate $100CAN to red cross of china.
that’s really not enough though.
i encourage everyone here to donate too. every bit counts.
i pay attention to the news everyday now.
and it’s very often bad news.
the saddest part is that many children have became orphans.
and i just saw a report saying how a young woman just lost her fiancee.
because of this, i realized how fortunate i am here.
life is precious. family and loved ones are too.
i wished i could do more than just donating.
Emilie… there actually managed to save quite a lot of survivors… pregnant ladies, school kids etc.
bb… that’s a kind act from your family, and every bit counts.
ppl WEN is so kind…… really so kind
i’m just saying that the lady and the baby managed to survive that’s very lucky. i know that lots of people have been saved and hopefully many more to come.
I can get your point Emilie. I was trying to say that they are lots of other lucky fellas too… but as time goes by, the chances of survival will gradually fade. We can only hope for the best.
[...] in China are using a giant cutter to torn down buildings that are semi-damaged during the Sichuan earthquake in May [...]