Well, now that I’m back at work I guess it’s time to start gearing up the post-writing-machine again. However, I’m a little rusty after running around to different tourist sites and trying to think of different types of Chinese pastas to feed my noodles-addicted sister for the past week so here are just three links about the earthquake that I thought were nicely written:
China, Government, and Charities
Which brings me back to China and a post at the Black and White Cat entitled, “Beijing’s blood bank is full.” The title says it all; so many people have donated blood in the wake of the Sichuan earthquake, Beijing no longer can handle any more. I think this post is very telling. It says that when the Chinese government cannot handle a crisis on its own, the people will step in.
Metaphorically speaking, the first week of the earthquake disaster was like the honeymoon of a longer relationship. First the euphoria of survival and the closeness one feels with those you survived with. Then, as the news began to broadcast images of horror from the surrounding areas, a surge of sympathy and compassion as the population mobilized to help. Granted the tone was marred by a few panics, over the water supply for one. But over all optimism and community feeling prevailed.
Those answers, too, were unusually candid in a country that has a long tradition of diluting bad news lest it reflect ill on the party. Instead, he revealed that the death toll, now 62,000, was likely to go as high as 80,000 or more. China, he said, now faced three main challenges – to prevent epidemics, to provide shelter for five million homeless and to tackle 35 “quake lakes” formed by landslides blocking rivers. “We must not allow this major tragedy to be followed by another major disaster,” he said.
Sharon Stone and Earthquake Karma
Just to show how one stupid person can damage the reputation of an entire group.
