Mother Talkers

Massive Chinese Earthquake

by shenanigans

Mon May 12, 2008 at 10:40:15 AM PDT

A massive earthquake hit central China today, at roughly 2:30 pm local time, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale. This is a very dangerous earthquake and would cause substantial damage and loss of life even in developed nations with advanced building codes. I'm not familiar with this area of China or its architecture, but I've been told it has a great mix of structure types - simple stone buildings to wood frame buildings to modern high rises. The earthquake was felt 1,000 miles away in Bejing and Shanghai - an astonishing distance of the sort seen in the US for the New Madrid region, but unheard of in California.

The earthquake was in the foothils of the Himalayas, within 50 miles of a major city, Chengdu, located in the basin below. A school has collapsed, killing some children and trapping many more. Thousands are reported dead.

USGS has recently upgraded this earthquake from the original 7.5 to 7.9 magnitude. The USGS link includes maps and other data.

  • ::

This is a useful DailyKos diary discussing the geology and population of the region.

Fortunately, while Bejing and Shanghai felt the earthquake, at that distance there was no damage in those cities.

Our best wishes go out to the people of China.

Tags: earthquakes, china, disaster (all tags)

Permalink | 19 comments

  • Thanks (0 / 0)

    for posting the links to the USGS and DK pages here!

    by SwissClogs on Mon May 12, 2008 at 11:04:34 AM PDT

  • it's horrible (0 / 0)

    The Age is saying the death toll so far is 8700. I wonder at building codes/standards and how safe the buildings are. What a horrible situation.

    by Rachel on Mon May 12, 2008 at 03:20:38 PM PDT

    • What I have gathered (0 / 0)

      is that there are a lot of old buildings, new buildings built to modern codes, and new buildings built under modern codes but with substantial corruption.

      by shenanigans on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:38:29 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • City centers. (0 / 0)

        City Centers like Chengdu have modern buildings, but I wouldn't trust the codes because shoddy construction and rampant corruption renders them meaningless.  Outside the cities, you get more older stuff.

        by tessajp on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:40:33 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

    • /*snort (0 / 0)

      Bwahahahaha.  Building codes in Sichuan Province.  Hah!

      Sadly, most structures in Sichuan are mud hut-type/brick type construction, nothing really built to a code, per se.  I've read some rather distressing percentages of the buildings being flattened through the area.  The death toll will go higher, unfortunately.  The school collapse is just one example.

      by tessajp on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:39:16 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • my lord (0 / 0)

        I read about the school as well; the heart aches.

        by Rachel on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:41:11 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

        • Very much, yes. (0 / 0)

          Its just been a hell of a week in that part of the world.  How horrendous for those parents.  Gah.

          by tessajp on Mon May 12, 2008 at 05:46:24 PM PDT

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        • All this devastation in the (0 / 0)

          world is just horrendous.  I cannot imagine living through the desperation of getting little help with such tragedy as is being experienced in Burma.  I wonder how much help is available in this area of China?  Really, some of what I have been reading is too much to bear and I'm only reading it, but being able to do nothing other than feel sick that there is so much suffering is an emotional  torture.  My heart breaks for all this sadness.

          karen

          by karen m on Mon May 12, 2008 at 07:49:37 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          • With the Olympics.. (0 / 0)

            ..at least you know the Chinese will do everything possible to make their response look stellar. This whole year is a big PR thing for them, they'll respond fast and in force (at least where possible, and remember they have the largest military in absolute numbers of any country on the planet). But with Burma, it's just horrible. A number of EU countries have even started talking about making air drops of aid without the permission of the government there, just to get something through.

            "You're never more alone than when you're alone in a crowd."

            by Expat Briton on Tue May 13, 2008 at 09:53:59 AM PDT

            [ Parent ]

            • air drops (0 / 0)

              but who's going to be there to distribute the food drops? That's what's so infuriating. Plus, not just food, but clean water. I saw on last night's news that the Australian Red Cross has planes all loaded up with equipment that can purify 3,000 litres of water in an hour. Just sitting on the tarmac because it can't get into the country.

              I read in Slate yesterday a great column by Anne Applebaum - she pointed out that the junta is acting with perfect consistency with its goals - hold on to power at any and all costs. 100,000+ people going to die? The generals really care so long as they keep ahold of power. Unbelievable.

              I've also read that China could play a huge role in pressuring the generals to open the borders, but won't. That's also why the UN Security Council hasn't made any big statements on the subject - China has threatened a veto. Disgusting.

              by Rachel on Tue May 13, 2008 at 03:52:50 PM PDT

              [ Parent ]

              • China and Burma. (0 / 0)

                China is very busy exploiting as many of Burma's natural resources as it can.  IIRC, Burma has huge natural gas reserves, and China WANTS THEM.  Thus, they prop up the generals.  Just like in Darfur.  It disgusts me too, but they're at least consistent.

                As for the generals, according to Admiral Keating, commander of Pacific Command, the generals don't even know or acknowledge how bad it is.  (He flew in with the only plane of American supplies that's been allowed in.  I think to pressure the junta, but I'm not really sure what he expected to accomplish.)  Its a weird cult of personality, much like Mao during the Great Leap Foward on.  No one will tell them what they don't want to hear.  Because they will kill the messenger.  This is not to say that the junta would give a good goddamn if they did have all the facts, certainly not.  

                by tessajp on Tue May 13, 2008 at 08:38:52 PM PDT

                [ Parent ]

                • yeah - gas reserves (0 / 0)

                  I read that as well. Sad but consistent.

                  I hadn't heard that point from Adm. Keating; we get a lot of softly-softly stuff on the Australian news. The few aid agencies that are on the ground in Burma are desperately trying to be diplomatic in hopes of pursuading the junta to let them do their thing. I'm not sure if the Australian military is doing fly-ins as yet, either.

                  by Rachel on Tue May 13, 2008 at 08:51:43 PM PDT

                  [ Parent ]

  • earthquakes and corruption (0 / 0)

    I lived in Greece 79-81 and there was a major earthquake in Athens. The buildings most damaged were new ones built by bribing inspectors, and the contractors were on the first planes out of the country. The scandal probably changed the outcome of the next election. While that won't happen in China, the fact that schools and a hospital collapsed mean that there will probably be enough public outcry that some local officials will get jailed. This is a terrible tragedy.

    by chun yang on Tue May 13, 2008 at 03:37:59 AM PDT

  • So sad. (0 / 0)

    There is NO good news coming out of Sichuan.  I read today one town has 18K+ people buried.  This is just horrible.  

    China DOES seem to be getting good marks for their response, even if they are also not letting foreigners in to help.  They did a decent job responding to the blizzard earlier this year, too.  

    by tessajp on Tue May 13, 2008 at 10:36:34 AM PDT

  • i have friends there (0 / 0)

    My daughter was born in Chongqing.  Chongqing is more populated than Beijing or Shanghai.  It is the largest city in China.  Chengdu is the capitol city of Sichuan province.  It is very moutainous there and that makes the releif efforts much more difficult due to mud slides and power outages.  This is very, very bad.  The losses will be enormous.  Please think of them and send good vibes. They all have so little to begin with and they are all so precious.  

    by summer day on Tue May 13, 2008 at 11:37:27 AM PDT

    • It appears that the roads are heavily damaged (0 / 0)

      and just getting in is a big deal.

      My heart goes out to everyone there.

      by shenanigans on Tue May 13, 2008 at 05:06:31 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    • chongqing and other sichuan areas (0 / 0)

      I have a friend in Richmond, VA with a daughter from Chonqqing who is active in fundraising for the kids there. I notice that Half the Sky, an excellent organization, is raising funds for kids in orphanages that have been effected by the earthquake. So far, the news is okay - some buildings damaged and kids removed to other housing or buses where the fear of aftershocks is strong. Still, it will take time for all the news to come out from areas with blocked roads and all.

      Half the Sky took the lead during the bad snowstorms of the Chinese New Year and got food and supplies to many of the orphanages(called welfare institutes in China). They mostly do valuable long-term work but have enough presence in China that they can get to places and get permission quickly on the ground.

      Our son is from Jiangsu Province, the other side of the country and not effected, but this kind of tragedy shocks everyone. The local Chinese student community is raising money here, and of course many people are very worried about relatives back in China.

      by chun yang on Wed May 14, 2008 at 04:02:18 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • So sad... (0 / 0)

    My heart aches.  I work with women from China although their families are from the north.  Very very sad.

    by Anu on Tue May 13, 2008 at 04:13:44 PM PDT

Permalink | 19 comments