Monday, May 12, 2008

Chengdu Rocked at 2:28 pm

Not good.
Bloomberg.com: Worldwide: "China Is Hit by 7.8-Magnitude Earthquake Near Chengdu
Two years ago, on this day, we were at our 'second home of sorts' in Chengdu, China.

The major earthquake was 90k west-northwest of Chengdu.

1 comment:

Mark Rauterkus said...

Abby, a student in the Ph.D. audiology program at Pitt, (also a MD in China) is from Chengdu. We asked how her family. This is her note to my wife:


Hi Catherine

Thank you for asking me about this. Yes, this morning I got the news and the earthquake happened to be very close to Chengdu. People in Chengdu all can feel the shaking and they all running out of the building. At first (9am of the east time) I could not contact my family because all the phone line were disconnect. I tried it this whole morning and till noon the phone connected. They all go out of the house during their afternoon ( the earthquake began on 2pm of their time), after the government of Chengdu announced that there will not be any severe earthquake in the coming 24hrs they back home. They are all good and calm down right now. When I called home my Mom already falling asleep. My Dad said everything is OK and there will not be any problem on their everyday living.

However, the center of the earthquake suffered a severe damage. Till now, we know nothing about those place. the highway destroyed and the helicopters could not go there due to the bad weather. I saw some pictures that thousands of people in Chengdu rush to the blood donation center and want to donate their blood to save other's life. I think if I were in Chengdu I definitely belong to the medical rescue team to go to the most difficult place.

Thanks again, this email makes me feel warm.

Abby