It was almost a year ago now (May 12, 2008) that southwestern China was rocked by a 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan province. The tragedy of that day was too much to ignore for people around the world. Some places like Beichuan were literally reduced to rubble. As with so many natural disasters, the disaster itself didn't take center stage, but instead the governments preparedness (or the lack thereof) and the response (or the lack thereof) (one can easily recall to mind a similar situation regarding Hurricane Katrina here in the United States in 2005). Children were literally crushed in school buildings. Then the allegations began to emerge of government corruption and cutting corners on sub-standard building materials and policies. In any case, NPR is following the anniversary of the tragedy this week, and yes the controversy still rages on calling into question the effectiveness of the current system government in China. The situation certainly does expose the fact that there is an underground resistance to that was exacerbated by these events. NPR reporter Melissa Block, who just happened to be in the city of Chengdu (in the Sichuan province), is back in Chengdu this week for the anniversary, and she has an EXCELLENT blog she has set up called Chengdu Diary (that you can check out by clicking here).
Monday, May 4, 2009
China Remembers the Sichuan Quake as We Approach the One Year Anniversary
It was almost a year ago now (May 12, 2008) that southwestern China was rocked by a 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan province. The tragedy of that day was too much to ignore for people around the world. Some places like Beichuan were literally reduced to rubble. As with so many natural disasters, the disaster itself didn't take center stage, but instead the governments preparedness (or the lack thereof) and the response (or the lack thereof) (one can easily recall to mind a similar situation regarding Hurricane Katrina here in the United States in 2005). Children were literally crushed in school buildings. Then the allegations began to emerge of government corruption and cutting corners on sub-standard building materials and policies. In any case, NPR is following the anniversary of the tragedy this week, and yes the controversy still rages on calling into question the effectiveness of the current system government in China. The situation certainly does expose the fact that there is an underground resistance to that was exacerbated by these events. NPR reporter Melissa Block, who just happened to be in the city of Chengdu (in the Sichuan province), is back in Chengdu this week for the anniversary, and she has an EXCELLENT blog she has set up called Chengdu Diary (that you can check out by clicking here).
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9 comments:
This is tragic, it upsets me that I was never aware of this until today...I guess our presidential campaign is too important to worry about China...It's nice to know they're working to build a new home, but 1 year now, plus 2 more years will be exhausting for the people of soon-to-be former Beichuan...Very devastating, I like that Ms. Block set up a blog for this, that's very noble of her.
I've been reading it and it's great
just caught the story of twelve year old Meihua, who was crushed by a school building during the earthquake. She said she thought that her legs were fine and that she could use this story to get a good grade on writing in school. Meihua attends a temporarhy school and kids give her a hard time because of her disability (her legs had to be amputated), though she still was eager to continue her education. It was insightful to see how much Meihua cared about school. Meihua did receive prosthetic legs from the govermnment as well as treatment, yet it took 6 days for Meihua to be rescued. She had to go to Beijing because her legs were so infected (I wonder if she had been to Beijing before?). She received special attention from top officials, but now the special visits are gone and it is her at school. This event is an important depiction of the differences between rural and urban China. The gap in standard if living is much greater from Beijing to Sichuan villages than from New Orleans , which is a city not a rural province, to New York. If this disaster had been in Beijing the structures would have been more stable and response would be more rapid.
true, although chengdu (the capital) is a city of about 10.5 million
ah, that my point a little bit less valid, but still most of Sichuan is very rural
"Yan and Huang had left their village, and their life as farmers, and were living in Heishui, some distance from Meihua - at least a day of travel under normal circumstances."
"After the earthquake, it took Meihua's parents four days to walk home."
Meihua lived in a rural village, and the program talked about how handicap access was non-existant in the rural parts of China.
How did you get NPR to follow your twitter?????????
wow this is horrible.. at least they are building new home. but this is very sad
sorry its so short mr prill im not sure what else to say about it haha
this is very sad.. people literally just abandoned the city because there was no relief being provided. this seems similar to katrina but i think it was a little more devestating there bc here there were so many funds that were trying to help.
wow...thats just bad i knew nothing about this!! Like the entire globe helped out with the tsunami relief and then a 7.9 earth quake hits in china and we all turn our heads..it is just sad. This is super tragic, but i am glad they are rebuilding so well!
It really is upsetting to know that China didnt prepare and have order for something like this natural disaster to happen. It is like the US going into Iraq and not having a back up plan. It is also very similar to our gas being limited and causing a panic. In that case QT was one of the only gas stations to have a plan to have gas almost all the time. Well anyways that is besides the point. It is depressing to learn that kids were toppled on by buildings and such. Earthquakes are a natural thing and cant be prevented, but the more order the less of a crisis it might cause.
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