The death toll continues to rise as rescuers search through the thousands and thousands of buildings that collapsed during the earthquake on Monday. More than 13,000 people were killed and yet another 18,000 are still buried. Nearly 2,000 students and teachers perished when their school buildings collapsed. It is the deadliest natural disaster in the country since an earthquake in 1976 killed over 240,000 people. I was unaware of this earthquake 32 years ago, even though it was the deadliest earthquake in modern history.
It has been a tumultuous and emotional year in China so far. A severe winter storm hit in January, riots in March, Olympics torch protests in the last two months, and now a deadly earthquake. The despair that was felt over Yao Ming’s foot injury a few weeks ago that ended his NBA season seems like an insignificant setback now.
Life is fragile and wholly unpredictable. I cannot imagine suddenly losing an entire school or office building full of people. My heart goes out to the people that lost loved ones in the earthquake.
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Life in the Middle Kingdom
1 comment:
You have a humanity toward those around you that makes me proud.
love, dad
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