博文
Minutes after the government announced that there would be another
aftershock of magnitude 6-7, the entire city, once again, began its
migration outdoors. Cars honking. Traffic crowding the streets.
People claiming choice pieces of grass.
I mean, OK, on the one hand, I completely understand. Earthquakes are terrifying. Maybe it's because my uncle's entire house collapsed in the original quake in Hanwang, or that we've gone through numerous aftershocks of 6+ magnitudes, but the mood in our household is cheerful, joking, and even silly.
Because on the other hand - what the news report said was that there could POSSIBLY be a 6-7 mag. aftershock on the 19th or 20th. Weather reports, meanwhile, predict very very very strong storms tonight. So spending the night out of doors, with the threat such storms, when most of the escapees live in perfectly safe, modern buildings that are designed to withstand earthquakes of such magnitude borders on the ludicrous...
O
I mean, OK, on the one hand, I completely understand. Earthquakes are terrifying. Maybe it's because my uncle's entire house collapsed in the original quake in Hanwang, or that we've gone through numerous aftershocks of 6+ magnitudes, but the mood in our household is cheerful, joking, and even silly.
Because on the other hand - what the news report said was that there could POSSIBLY be a 6-7 mag. aftershock on the 19th or 20th. Weather reports, meanwhile, predict very very very strong storms tonight. So spending the night out of doors, with the threat such storms, when most of the escapees live in perfectly safe, modern buildings that are designed to withstand earthquakes of such magnitude borders on the ludicrous...
O
Minutes after the government announced that there would be another
aftershock of magnitude 6-7, the entire city, once again, began its
migration outdoors. Cars honking. Traffic crowding the streets.
People claiming choice pieces of grass.
I mean, OK, on the one hand, I completely understand. Earthquakes are terrifying. Maybe it's because my uncle's entire house collapsed in the original quake in Hanwang, or that we've gone through numerous aftershocks of 6+ magnitudes, but the mood in our household is cheerful, joking, and even silly.
Because on the other hand - what the news report said was that there could POSSIBLY be a 6-7 mag. aftershock on the 19th or 20th. Weather reports, meanwhile, predict very very very strong storms tonight. So spending the night out of doors, with the threat such storms, when most of the escapees live in perfectly safe, modern buildings that are designed to withstand earthquakes of such magnitude borders on the ludicrous...
O
I mean, OK, on the one hand, I completely understand. Earthquakes are terrifying. Maybe it's because my uncle's entire house collapsed in the original quake in Hanwang, or that we've gone through numerous aftershocks of 6+ magnitudes, but the mood in our household is cheerful, joking, and even silly.
Because on the other hand - what the news report said was that there could POSSIBLY be a 6-7 mag. aftershock on the 19th or 20th. Weather reports, meanwhile, predict very very very strong storms tonight. So spending the night out of doors, with the threat such storms, when most of the escapees live in perfectly safe, modern buildings that are designed to withstand earthquakes of such magnitude borders on the ludicrous...
O
Not going to lie, I'm kind of disappointed in the Red Cross.
In the first few days after the quake, I was so excited about going out and 'doing something useful': volunteering my time and my sweat, possibly risking my life, not getting any sleep, helping out the quake victims etc etc...
And so I signed up for relief efforts through several organizations, and I thought that I was the luckiest person in the world when I got the opportunity to go as a Red Cross volunteer into Ground Zero.
Red Cross Headquarters
The plan was to meet at 9.00 at the Red Cross headquarters in Chengdu, leave sometime soon after, and go into Qingping Village about 20 km from Hanwang Town. Qingping was accessible only by foot; even the army had not mad
From my journal, written in the early hours after the quake
Now, the way that my apartment building is designed, it happens that if you have your windows open, and your neighbors have their windows
