China Earthquake

The big news last week was the earthquake. Lila was in Taiwan when Karl sent the following from Beijing (1000 miles from the epicenter): “Just my luck – I just arrived in Beijing for a meeting when we have an earthquake here. Now I'm starting to feel like home. I have no clue on the size --- but my guess is 5.3 or so. I just ignored it… but all the locals evacuated the buildings … I just looked outside and there are millions of people out there. I'm not sure what is safer – hiding in the building or waiting for one of them to collapse on top of you. I'm fine however the local Intel sales team thinks it might have been 10 years since they felt a earthquake here."
Karl then sent the follow-up mail: “Oh my gosh… I just pulled the report from the earthquake site. It is listed as a 7.8 only 6 miles below the surface (but over 1000 miles away). No wonder we felt it all the way over here!"
It turns out that the Shanghai site also felt it and sent everyone home. They were told to expect light aftershocks in the evening so people stayed home. Fortunately all is fine with everyone we know. The government just announced that May 19 - 21 will be the China Mourn Days to grieve the earthquake victims. During the 3 days, the national flag is at half-mast across the country and all the entertainment is to be stopped. We didn't realize what that meant until we got home and flipped on the TV. Several channels were blacked out with statements:
“Dear subscribers, According to an announcement of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, May 19 to May 21, 2008 are national mourning days. In order to express our heartfelt condolences for the victims of the disastrous earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province, we will suspend the relay of overseas channels with limited landing rights that contain entertainment programmes during the above period. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”
Sports, the Discovery Channel, and Star Movies are still going. Meanwhile, the Chinese stations are filled with the sad images and reporting from out west. Between record snowfall and earth shaking, it appears Mother Earth is sending a message to China.