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Earthquake in Sichuan Province Replies |
HenryTo
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chestnutstime
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 Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:40 am Post subject: |
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Sichuan Earthquake has become a powerful catalyst for strengthening Sino-Japanese relations, which in turn can prove itself as a historical turning-point in geopolitics.
| Quote: | China has asked Japan to send its military to help with rescue operations after a devastating earthquake this month that killed more than 67,000 people, Japan’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/23fa5616-2c8d-11dd-88c6-000077b07658.html
Chestnut |
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rffrydr
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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Another Panda update:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/138079
| Quote: | OK. About now many of you are no doubt wondering, Who cares about pandas when as many as 50,000 people are dead and 5 million are homeless? Here's why news from the panda center matters.
First of all, it matters to the Chinese people. When news of the center's casualties and the missing pandas emerged, volunteers scrambled to buy up medicines and hospital supplies to bring to the stricken facility. When they left Wolong they transported a number of injured research personnel out of the disaster zone in their SUVs.
Meanwhile volunteer medics remain at the center, assisting injured researchers. The Chinese military is also on the scene, choppering in food and supplies. Last Monday five truckloads of bamboo were delivered to feed the 60 animals. (Eight so-called "Olympics pandas," groomed for the Games spotlight in August, were brought safely to a panda center in Chengdu earlier.)
Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, moreover, are symbols of cross-straits reconciliation, giving hope to Chinese mainlanders and Taiwanese alike that decades of hostility could become a thing of the past. Many Taiwanese were captivated by the celebrity pandas and have been eagerly awaiting their arrival in Taipei.
Chinese also see the panda as a national icon-one of the five Olympic mascots is a panda-and as a symbol of Chinese efforts to protect endangered species. Only about 1,590 live in the wild, mostly in Sichuan and neighboring Shaanxi provinces; about 180 have been bred in captivity. The panda's cause has been taken up by Chinese environmentalists, who argue for a more ecologically sound mind-set in China, where blind and headlong economic growth has blighted the environment and poisoned the air in many cities.
What's important is not just that dozens of the cuddly black-and-white animals survived, but rather that ordinary Chinese citizens-not just the government-could pitch in to help them. News of the plight of the pandas and the scientists studying them are a source of hope to ordinary citizens at a time when Chinese want to be reassured that humans and nature can exist in harmony. |
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chestnutstime
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2008 7:26 pm Post subject: |
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The top leaders were aware of possible powerful earthquakes but they kept their silence, while they started to drain Zipingpu Dam to 1/3 of its capacity two weeks prior to the Earthquake, otherwise it could have flooded entire area after the quake.
The defence contractors were also busy relocating some nuclear materials from their nuclear weapon assembly lines in the area at night one week before the quake.
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HenryTo
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HenryTo
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Posts: 11734
Location: Los Angeles, California
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HenryTo
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Posts: 11734
Location: Los Angeles, California
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rffrydr
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chestnutstime
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rffrydr
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chestnutstime
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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In fact, the best early warning system turns out to be pandas in this case.
| Quote: | Another, Diane Etkins, said the pandas' behaviour changed in the moments leading up to the earthquake.
"They'd been really lazy and just eating a little bit of bamboo and all of a sudden they were sort of parading round their pen.
"Looking back, they must have sensed something was wrong," she said.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7402202.stm
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HenryTo
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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MIT Tech Review on Earthquake warning systems:
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20772/?nlid=1075
| Quote: | | The death of thousands of people following Monday's earthquake in Sichuan, China, has once again called attention to the need for technology that provides better warning of such devastating natural events. While China lacks an earthquake early-warning system, it is hardly unique. Such systems are still very much works in progress: Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan are deploying them, but most other nations, including the United States, are still in the research stages, says a leading seismologist, Haroo Kanamori. |
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rffrydr
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chestnutstime
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