Earthquake in China

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ChinaBun

ChinaBun

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Joined
Apr 23, 2005
Messages
205
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Location
Nanning, China and Mountain Home, Arkansas
Hi everyone. The earthquake struck just after I walked into my 2:30 pm class. A student realized first what was happening, and he led me out of the class. (It's a strange class: I only had one student today, a tall university student.) There was an orderly evacuation of the teaching building. I'm glad that I was on the first floor. We waited outside for a long time, then I went home. The students are being told not to go into their dormitories until ten pm, though I've got two in my living room who didn't feel like sitting around out on the football field. It appears that some students are going to sleep on the football field. To me, this seems totally unneeded, as the epicenter of the quake was far away.

Once I went back into my apartment, I was pleased to see that the Internet was still working. The phone system was down, but because of all the calls people were trying to make. The news is only getting worse about the areas closer to the epicenter.

I had never felt a quake like that before, just a little one once years ago. Today I felt calm when I was walking out of the building, but looking back I remember that I was scared. Not sure if that makes sense or not!

I've been doing some reading on quakes. I learned that you are not supposed to try to leave the building while the quake is going on, though that was what all of us in the teaching building did.

I wonder if the other posters on here in Aisa felt the quake, too. I'm about a 17-hour train ride from the epicenter, and it seemed rather strong here. Maybe two minutes. In Beijing it was described as one minute of a gentle rolling motion. Not gentle here. I can't imagine how bad the feeling was closer to the epicenter. Oh, and my students who had to go down six flights of stairs were really scared.
 
Nancy, they are saying there are 900 students trapped, and 3000 dead.

The concern is probably due to the aftershocks. It could get rough anywhere near there.


 
Nancy,

I work overnights and have been home for just about the earthquake! I'm looking up news stories now.

I'm reading that it was a 7.8 which is something I can't imagine. I'm in the midwest USA and we had a few small ones, 4.2 etc and our area was in an outcry because we aren't used to anything of the nature.

I'm reading an article released by the AP now:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gBr_dOzJ9Pnc_U9gSgtTgE-cR-KwD90K3IQ80
 
The students at my university were told to stay out of the dorms until ten pm, and the library was closed. I just (11 pm) went out to the football field and there are still students there who are apparently going to spend the night. I even saw a tent! Walking back to my place, I saw a family from the teachers' apartments walking toward the football field, bedding in hand. Personally, I think Xi'an is too far from the epicenter to have to worry about aftershocks and I think our apartment building is solidly made.

There were a lot of rumors flying around about another earthquake coming, which is why the school had the students vacate the dorms.

A student told me that her friends at other schools, one in Xi'an and one in Baoji, two hours away, were told to sleep on their football fields.

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to bed now.
 
Thank goodness you are doing ok.

They said some of the aftershocks were 6.2 and 5.0 - those are still big quakes.

We'll be thinking of you and praying there aren't more serious problems.
 
I can tell youas I've lived in Los Angeles for 20+ years now and been through a couple of bad quakes and alot of little ones that you are far enough away from the initial quake that your safe from that one, but there is always the chance of a) that first one will trigger a completely different quake - I believe the chances are greatest within the first 48 hours. b) Aftershocks can actually be Larger then the intial quake but that percentage drop very quickly as hours go by.

I would definetly make sure your stocked (batteries, water, water, water, canned goods and dig out the flashlights and keep tennis shoes around handy); also keep the same stuff in your car trunck.

Keep updating us!
 
So happy to hear you are alright! The reports from the epicenter are getting worse. An entire school collapsed with 900 students inside! Now they are saying almost 9000 dead! What a shame...

Nancy, Please take care and let us know how you are. :hug:
 
I was reading this and started to cry. It has always been my dream to go to China and some day adopt a child from there. I still hope to some day. Just saddens me to know that these people have to go through it. :(
 
i'm glad you are ok:hug:!earth quakes, scary stuff(not that we have them here in florida or anything:tongue):nerves1.


 
It's mid-afternoon now. I had class all morning. The students said that there had been two quakes during the night, at midnight and 4 am. I slept through them, maybe because I am only on the second floor. What woke me up at 4:30 am was students moving to the football field to sleep. I asked around in class this morning. A few students spent all night on the football field, a few went down after the midnight aftershock, more went down after the 4 am aftershock, and some stayed in their dorm rooms all night.

I had a roomful of sleepy students this morning!

I imagine that things will be calm around here now. However, reading online about the loss of life closer to the epicenter is really chilling. I was told that some people died in Xi'an and in this province, but it's nothing like the disaster down in Sichuan Province, close to Chengdu.
 
Yes, they said 10,000 at least now. It's so horrible. I'm sure the students are a wreck at this point.

We're thinking of you and them. :hug:
 
I may be way off base (maybe I'm thinking of the country that had the cyclone) but I heard there were 30,000 lives lost. Either place, how devistating. I hope some of the students in the collapsed schools in China can be recovered and reunited with family.

I have to get offline now, as we're in the middle of whats becoming a wild storm, but you and yoours are in my thoughts and prayers, Nancy.
 
God help those poor people! The count keeps going up as they get to different area's. Many roads are impassable and communications are very bad. This area of the country relied heavily on Cell Towers for phone service and they said a majority of them are down.

Leaf, saw the storm in your area on radar! Nasty! Best wishes for no damage or flooding. (Like you guys haven't had enough rain!!)
 
The disaster looks more and more unbelievable as the first days go by...The news here talk about 10,000 dead and another 10,000 injured. How devastating, so many lives....Though I live in an earthquake-prone country (Greece), 7.8 is over my worst nightmares. I hope everything settles down the soonest possible and that safety returns to your heart.

Marietta
 
Leaf wrote:
I may be way off base (maybe I'm thinking of the country that had the cyclone) but I heard there were 30,000 lives lost. Either place, how devistating. I hope some of the students in the collapsed schools in China can be recovered and reunited with family.

I have to get offline now, as we're in the middle of whats becoming a wild storm, but you and yoours are in my thoughts and prayers, Nancy.
Click to expand...
Yea that is the cyclone.
 
How are you?


 
Yes, how are you doing Nancy?

The company I work for just announced that they will match any employees' contributions to the Red Cross for China and Malaysia, up to $1000 per employee which is a ton with how many employees we have. It's a drop in the bucket but it's awesome to see companies stepping up like that. My last employer would have flipped off anyone who suggested such a thing.
 
How are you doing? I'm glad you're ok! My boyfriend's mother lives in Guang Zhou.. I think that's SouthWest China? We haven't heard from her yet, so he's been really stressed.

Again, I'm glad you're alright!
 
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