Earthquake!

I havent felt the first one. I was taking a nap and woke up at 2.35 - apparently my alarm refused to go off and I was almost late for work. I am not very close to those places where the quake was felt. So perhaps I am safe.

I think we're OK Becks. My Chinese son rang me from Singapore and talked to me until the signal got lost. I'm gonna go to bed as usual and read. But I'm going in decent Pjs and a heavy conscious. When I heard the epi-center was in another province and a thousand miles away I felt not happy but bloody relieved. What a dog.

Thanks Acjade. Sleep well!

We're getting regular blasts over the radio for citrion to remain calm. But a lot of the networks are still out of action and the cheessespeake brozaster stations are sending bodyguard tropes to the ren.

And I did that earthquake training in Japan - at Richter Scale 8 - and I''m in Bangladesh for it!!  BUT .. the training said specifically - don't leave a shaking building - get UNDER a table with cushions etc to protect your head.  So - if you're staying in tonight and it starts to shake, get under your bed with the pillows - don't leave the building until it's over.  Turn your gas off at the tap before you go to bed, and make sure anything likely to cause a fire is safe.

Fingers crossed the aftershocks have finished.

Latest news from ABC on-line:

State media says a powerful earthquake which struck south-west China's Sichuan province has killed an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people in just one county.

Xinhua reports that in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, north-east of the provincial capital Chengdu, 10,000 people were injured and 80 per cent of buildings collapsed after the 7.8-magnitude quake hit.


Major disaster.


VERY cynical take - this will take the heat off the Gov't re T't.  Although that area of the country has a high T't population.

Wow, it's bad

Again just got a call from another FT- she's had a couple of students come from the old campus and said it's major panic down there! All students are to remain out of the dorms for the whole night and all electricity shut off. The students were very surprised to see how calm it was here!

Gosh ... I've never experienced an earthquake ... so have no idea what it feels like

News reports are very confusing and I don't know which ones to follow ... I guess everything will become more clear over the next couple of days.

I just watched the CNN report. 900 students trapped under rubble. It's absolutely horrible tragedy.

7,500 died so far. So sad. I hear some solid stuff falling down. Not sure if it is related to aftershocks - haven't felt anything. Around 10 had a sudden headache-like for about 20 mins then it was gone. Also I felt sleepy before but right now I am wide awake (nope, its not coffee :-) ). I am not scared or agitated but being poorly informed is what makes me a bit uncomfortable.

it's a real big quake in a very populated place full of quick & cheap buildings.

The toll will become very high once said & done....

 

7.8?!?!  I guess China really does everything on a big scale.  And to think I was nervous just being in LA for a business lunch.  I've gotten through quite a few other natural disasters (even went outside a couple of times during hurricanes), but think I'd absolutely freak if the earth started moving.

I just hope they can get enough disaster aid into the worst affected areas quickly enough.

Edit:  Just Saw an update on CCTV9.  Deaths officially reported from the earthquake are now at 107.  I don't know if this means that reports of flattened schools were exaggerated or if they just haven't gotten in to count those areas yet.  They are spending more time talking about the storm in Myanmar/Burma.

News I'm seeing now shows death tolls at almost 9,000. Pretty horrible.

I think official counts will be slow. That's pretty rugged country...and I fear a lot of the victims are likely buried.

Yeah ... over here in South Africa we're getting reports that the expected death toll is over 8 500. This is so sad.

Western media reports 8000-9000.

CCTV just mentioned 900 students in a collapsed school, but could not verify their status.

With any disaster like this, in any country, all the early estimates are BS.  Until search and rescue teams get in, estimates can be off by an order of magnitude in either direction.