Quake in China
Please scroll to the bottom of this post for updates.
A magnitued 7.4 or 7.6 or 7.8 (preliminary numbers at this point, but still big, no matter what) quake hit China last night, in Sichuan province. News reports say that there is no serious damage in the provincial capital of Chengdu.
They are reporting that cellular service has been disrupted. Knowing how communication channels work in China, I’m betting the land phones and internet are probably spotty as well. Which means that if you’ve got a friend or loved one there and you haven’t heard from them and can’t reach them, that is probably why.
The news reports say the quake struck 93 kilometers from Chengdu, which is around 58 miles, so anyone there likely got quite a ride from it.
Other news reports say that the Chengdu airport is closed, and flights are being rerouted to the Chongqing airport.
While there are reports of it being felt pretty strongly as far away as Beijing and Shanghai, so far I’ve only seen reports of damage in the Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality.
Here are some eyewitness reports from some of the surrounding provinces.
The sad news right now is that of the schools collapsing, and of the school that was buried by mud, and of the collapsing watertower. There will probably be more bad news as the news begins to find its way out of the area, but I really hope not.
I’m guessing that Half the Sky will have some sort of update at some point about the state of the orphanages in those areas, they seem to be pretty on the ball about that kind of thing. If anyone sees them reporting on it, please let me know.
Also, if we have any families in the area it would be nice to hear how they are. I doubt they can get to the internet, but if anyone hears from someone please let us know about it.
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9:00 Update:
There are now damage reports in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces as well as in the municipality of Chongqing
Chengdu has power and water outages as well as communication problems. An underground water pipe ruptured near the city’s southern railway station and the immediate area is flooded. There are report of buildings with cracks in their walls but so far no reports of collapses.
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10:45 Update
I’m trying to report the stuff that isn’t on the news. We all know of the school collapses and the mudslides, I’m trying to give information that isn’t hitting the mainstream news so much.
Reports now have the magnitude at 7.8 or 8.0.
There are some reports of cracked buildings that have been evacuated in Chongching municipality.
Estimates of a death toll are now at three to five thousand in some reports and as high as 10,000 in other reports.
The epicenter was in Wenchuan county in Sichuan province. There are some pictures out there of collapsed buildings in Wenchuan county. I won’t point to them here, as most of them show bodies.
The water tower that collapsed was in Mianyang, in Santai county
There have been 44 aftershocks so far, and rain is predicted for the area. Most people are staying outside right now, out of buildings that could be unsafe.
There are also reports of fatalities in Beichaun county, where it is reported 80% of the buildings have collapsed.
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11:10 Update
Fatalities also reported in Dujiangyan City.
Wenchuan County, the epicenter, is home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China’s leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas. (In case someone has been there, you’ll know that’s where this is.)
Public transportation in Chengdu is said to be operational.
Electricity and water are said to be fine in the city of Chongching.
Eyewitness report of Canadians from Chengdu, seems to be okay where they are: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/424499
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11:30 Update
Two chemical plants were damaged and the areas around them have been evacuated. This is in Shifeng, about 30 miles from the epicenter of the quake.
It is also being reported that the trembling felt in Beijing was from a second 3.9 quake located in the eastern part of Beijing. I don’t believe that’s been decided for sure yet, though.
Death toll is now reported at 7,600 for Sichuan province.
USGS list of quakes and aftershocks: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.php
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12:50 Update
After the country was paralyzed by the snow storms in February the leadership was criticized for a Katrina-like slowness in dealing with the problem. There is now prominent coverage of officials responding immediately to this disaster. Premier Wen Jiabao is in Sichuan. He gave a televised speech as he was flying to Sichuan on Monday. He said the Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party and the state cabinet had ordered party members and officials at all levels ‘work on the front line’ of disaster relief.
Wen Jiaobao stated he will be in charge of the relief work headquarters that has been set up with eight State Council departments.
More than 5,000 PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) officers and soldiers, and 3,000 police are being rushed to effected areas to assist and lead the rescue efforts.
There are reports that five schools have collapsed in Deyang city in Sichuan.
Death toll is now reported as “more than 8,500 in Sichuan province.”
The only way into the epicenter areas are by helicopter at this point. Roads are not passable and bridges are gone.
Sichuan has about 40 percent of China’s natural gas reserves and produces about 22 percent of the nation’s output. PetroChina is not yet reporting damage to any of the fields in the earthquake zone, but it may be too early for that kind of information.
Ford, Honda, and Nissan all have factories in Sichuan. At this time none are reporting damage to their factories.
WalMart in Chengdu is closed and will be closed tomorrow as well (it’s midnight there now). Items were knocked off of the shelves and must be put back. Also, the power and water supply is out to the store.
Since it is the middle of the night now, I don’t expect we’ll get much more new information until later tonight (morning in China).
USGS Info:
Map: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/105_30.php
List: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/105_30_eqs.php
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1:50 Update
Besides the “more than 8500″ deaths listed in Sichuan, the national disaster relief headquarters reports 48 killed in northwestern Gansu province, 50 in the municipality of Chongqing, 57 in Shaanxi province, and one in southwestern Yunnan, according to Xinhua.
At least one of the two chemical plants in Shifang city (that were mentioned above) completely collapsed. Estimates are that it sent more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia into the air.
The U.S. Consulate in Chengdu had no apparent damage. No one is injured and all are accounted for.
Wenchuan, the county where the epicenter is located, has a population of 111,800.
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6:00 pm Update
LWB (Love Without Boundaries) is reported to be checking on some schools that they work with in the earthquake areas. I haven’t heard any news yet, though.
HTS (Half the Sky) reports that they have had contact with the Chengdu, Chongqing and Yibin orphanages and that all is well. The children were all evacuated until the tremors passed, the buildings suffered no great damage, and no children were injured. Half the Sky will reach out to other orphanages in the area today (our tonight).
May 12th, 2008 at 7:55 am
RQ- thank you for keeping us informed. My heart dropped when I heard this a few minutes ago. I also heard that a school collapsed with 900 students inside. I hope that the reporters were wrong. My thoughts are with everyone affected by this today.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Our prayers go out to the people of that region and to the children involved.
I heard of the school that collapsed, but does anyone know if all the children were killed or is it a rescue operation at this time?
May 12th, 2008 at 8:33 am
My daughter is from Chongqing so of course we are paying close attention to this. I have read that some children were killed in Chongqing Municipality after a school collapsed there.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Our son is from Fuling SWI in Chongqing. We traveled in January to pick him up. I have emailed our agency to see if they have any news.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:07 am
MSN Reports it was a 7.8 and 3,000 to 5,000 are reported dead. This is very sad news.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:07 am
This is just horrible!!!
May 12th, 2008 at 9:09 am
On the news here, 900 students from school are buried underneath rubble. 4 dead 100 seriously injured.
Main town left ok,
Hope no RQ people over there.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Just pulled up MSNBC (9:18 am east coast) and they said 3,000 - 5,000 in one county alone with 80% of the buildings collapsed. This is going to be a lot worse than the initial reports.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:27 am
A family from my agency is in China now, Gotcha day was yesterday, don’t know the province.
Everyone say a prayer, thank you.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I am soo scared right now. We were just matched with a little girl in Hunan, in Chenzhou City. In looking at the map I know that some of the placed reporting damage are close to her. She has been threw so much in her little life, and now this. They are saying that most of the small building are the ones that got the most damage. My heart is with all the families that have lost love ones right now. But most of all, with my little Jade, in the hopes that she is okay.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:32 am
My heart is sick worrying over those 900 children and their families…how awful. And I agree with guangximom…this is going to be whole lot worse than the initial reports.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Are they used to earthquakes? I mean are their buildings built to sway in smaller magnatude quakes? One buillding can house 5,000 people. I hope that their highrises are built for quakes.
Please don’t misunderstand me, they are all tragedies and every life is important. I was a little surprised not to hear anything on TV about the Chinese quake while they were spending 30 minutes talking about the tornadoes.
As horrible and devastating as natural disasters are in the US you seem to hear of so many more fatalities elsewhere in the world and a lot of problems with the aftermath such as the Burma problem currently. And China just sent them aid! The Tsunami that took the lives of hundreds of thousands in 2005 also comes to mind.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:51 am
My daughter is from Liangping in Chongqing. That is where four children died in one of the collapsing schools. It’s just so heartbreaking.
http://www.chinadaily.net/china/2008-05/12/content_6678227.htm
May 12th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Moongoddess..hopefully your DD Jade is okay..so far nothing reported about Hunan Province in terms of injuries that I saw..mostly Gansu Province, Yunnan Province, Sichuan Province and Chongquing…Hang in there. I know it must be scary…
May 12th, 2008 at 10:28 am
MSN is reporting that one middle school has rescued 120 children alive; five didn’t survive. The high school with 900 children is being worked on as a rescue mission; many of the students are being pulled out alive and many are calling out that they are alive and need to be rescued.
I can’t even imagine what these poor families are going through.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:24 am
My husband is in Guangdong province not far from Guangzhou. He’s supposed to call me this morning (of course it’s 11:25pm there right now) but I haven’t heard from him yet. I’m going to try and reach him by cell phone…although I know cell service has been disrupted. I’ll see what info I can get from him and post. My heart is hurting for those in China.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Our dd is in Nanchong, Sichuan just outside of Chengdu. Two other families from our agency are matched with little ones in Nanchong and Deyang (just near the epicenter). One family is just waiting on TA and us other two were actually hoping to hear of LOA today or this week…. We’re devastated. Thank you RQ for posting the stuff that’s not already on the news. I haven’t been able to find anything out specifically about Nanchong.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I feel such a sense of loss, and helplessness…… I wish there was something more that I could do, but I suppose prayers right now will have to do……..
May 12th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Prayers and hopeful thoughts to all those picking up and waiting for their children in the hard-hit regions, also to all of those in the area suffering from this tragic disaster.
May 12th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
per our Agency, Chongqing is okay. Their rep has spoken to her. For those who have children from Fuling - everything is okay with SWI.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Anyone hear anything about Hanzhong,Shaanxi? It’s a little northeast of Chongqing, we have a daughter waiting there and can’t get any information.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
There is nothing in the news (that I can find) about Hanzhong or Nanchong. At this point, no news is good news since it appears they are only reporting where there is widespread damage.
Anyone with a particular city you are looking out for, I recommend you sign up for Google Alerts, that way you’ll be alerted as soon as there is a news article about that city.
May 12th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Our son is in Baoji City in Shaanxi province. It’s not as close to the epicenter as some families are experiencing, but it’s too close for our comfort. We have an email into our agency and will be calling this afternoon if we hear nothing.
We expect information is going to be hard to come by. Thank your RQ for keeping us updated. We’re seeing more information here than at work (we work at a newspaper). If anyone hears anything please post. Our hearts go out to the families who have babies close to the epicenter.
Kevin and Violet
May 12th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I am especially worried, selfishly I know, for the AP who just got their children from SWI days ago who are now stuck as with this much damage can they really get their child’s passport?
Kristine
May 12th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
My prayers go out to everyone in China affected by this quake and for families worried about their babies.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Thanks for the FYI, will sign up for alerts. Still no news from my inside conatct or our agency.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
RQ, Thanks for the info. Haven’t heard any word about Yunyang either, further northeast in Chongqing. We have an agency meeting in a few hours and I am sure this will be the number one topic. As a long time CA resident, I have experienced numerous quakes and the further away from the epicenter the least likely there will be substanial damage. Chengdu is about 180 miles from Chongqing and the further NE you travel in Chongqing the further the epicenter is away and therefore the likelihood of damage is less. Just trying to stay positive.
May 12th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I have two exchange students that have stayed with me from Chengdu. Wangsu and Shurei I am so scared. I was able to call one of them and she is very scared and she cannot get a hold of her sister who is at one of the school’s that collapsed I am desperate to find some news. Wangsu said she will call me when she finds her. But I am so afraid she wont. She told me that she is very scared. She calls me mom. “It broke my heart when she said mom I want to come home to you. I am so scared.” Please pray for them
May 12th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Can someone tell me how you sign up for the Google alerts?
May 12th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Oh anya,
My heart breaks for you and for your exchange students. I hope Wangsu will call you, and I pray she finds her sister.
May 12th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Destiny,
Go to the google news page and on the left side there is a menu where you can click to sign up for Google alerts.
Adomom
May 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Thank you for updating the site with the latest information you have…
I don’t even have words for how I feel today.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Everyone affected is in my heart.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Thanks for keeping us updated. This has broken my heart. All the lives that have been lost.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Our agency has set up a fund. If you would like information, since I can’t use the name, please feel free to email me and I will send you the information. I am pasting my email that I received from my agency. My email address is etstong@yahoo.com
Several orphanages in the Sichuan and Chongqing provinces that XXXX regularly receives referrals from have been directly affected by the catastrophic earthquake that occurred in China May 12, 2008. In an effort to assist orphanages that have been affected by the earthquake; XXXX has started a special relief fund for orphanages in need. These funds will go directly to providing rescue resources, reconstruction projects, and any other necessary assistance. If you are interested in donating to the fund, please click on the following link to download the donation form. This form can then be emailed, faxed, or mailed directly to XXXXX. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact XXXX at XXXX.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
This is so awful……. :(
May 12th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Dear RQ,
Thank you so much for keeping us updated today. With a child waiting for us in ChongQing, it has been comforting this afternoon to be able to find current news here…
Many Thanks,
CarolinaBlue
May 12th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
This is just heartbreaking! It’s hard to believe we were in Chongqing only weeks ago. After working many disasters, it’s hard to think about what is going on over there, especially now that we have been there. I am thinking about and praying for all of the people over there right now. I am also thinking about all of you AP’s who have babies that are over there right now.
Wendy
http://adoptionandfire.typepad.com
May 12th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Isn’t it remarkable that I now feel like China is part of my family? I know only a handful of people there, and yet, today I feel like I am worried about my sister, my brother, my cousins despite the fact that I don’t know of anyone who would have been in the affected areas. Of course, I am always saddened to hear of a disaster, but I feel like this touches me personally even though I am 1/2 a world away. It’s as if I’ve adopted the whole country as family when I adopted my daughter.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:08 am
woopig, I feel exactly the same way, it’s just so sad and my heart is breaking for everyone affected :(