China Earthquake Shakes Asia

A 7.9-magnitud quake devastated a region in China, killing thousand and leave million homeless. The death toll is on rising and as many as 100,000 peoples may have been killed!

By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer Mon May 12, 7:02 PM ET
CHENGDU, China - A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing more than 8,700 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country's worst quake in three decades.

The 7.9-magnitude quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam.
Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, the official Xinhua news agency said. Photos showed people using cranes, mechanical hoists and their hands to remove slabs of concrete and steel.

Buried teenagers struggled to break free from the rubble, "while others were crying out for help," Xinhua said. Families waited in the rain near the wreckage as rescuers wrote the names of the dead on a blackboard, Xinhua said.

Parents of the dead students built makeshift religious altars at the site, resting the corpses on any available piece of plywood or cardboard, and burning paper money and incense in a traditional honor for their child in the afterlife, according to NPR's Melissa Block.

The earthquake hit one of the last homes of the giant panda at the Wolong Nature Reserve and panda breeding center, in Wenchuan county, which remained out of contact, Xinhua said.
In Chengdu, it crashed telephone networks and hours later left parts of the city of 10 million in darkness.

Report said Chinese government had refuse international rescue team to help! I hope the Chinese government could change their mind. It is not about "face" now but saving lives of million!!


愛面子．中國拒讓日澳韓參與震災搶救
2008-05-14 21:30
（法新社北京十四日電）中國四川日前遭強烈地震侵襲，面對必須救出成千上萬受困民眾的艱鉅任務，亞洲鄰國表明願提供搜救犬與專業搜救隊協助，但中國回絕各國的好意，寧願獨力救災。

Fellow Malaysian, please donate to help the victims and show our concern.