Chinese bloggers are fuming with debates on whether some natural phenomenons were showing signs that an earthquake was going to strike China on May 12.
One of the most talk-about phenomenons is the toad migrations which were spotted at a few places across China… I have shared one of the toad migration stories earlier before I knew about the quake.
While the story I shared happened in Jiangsu, a few thousand kilometres away from the quake zone… a similar mass migration also happened at a village in Mianzhu on May 10, one of the places that are affected by the earthquake.
Did the toads sense something coming, or was it merely coincidence and common natural behaviour like some scientists claimed? I am not sure… there are plenty of rooms for speculations obviously.
The freaky thing is that some of the villagers actually expressed their concerns that the toad migration might be an omen that something disastrous might be coming… unfortunately their concerns came true.
The death toll of the quake has risen to 34,000 at the moment. Again, do help in whatever way you can… every bit counts.
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.
Thousands of toads were spotted at a bridge in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, China, on May 9. According to local expert, the toads were enduring a mass migration because of the depleting oxygen resource in a nearby river… but from the pic it seems like the chance of survival for the toads are not looking good on the road either.
That’s lots of toads (Image from
Yangtse)
Update – this story was first shared before the Sichuan earthquake on May 13. There are speculations that the toads migration was an omen, and the rumours were heated up as a similar toad migration phenomenon was spotted in Mianzhu, one of the quake affected areas, just a couple of days before the disaster.
Personally, I don’t think the toad migrations are related to the quake in anyway, but I can’t be sure… as the world is always full of mysteries. Regardless, what really matters now is to rescue the quake survivals and help them rebuild their homes. Try to help a bit if possible ok?
