STORIES FROM THE EPICENTER

[Ian]

Read this in the news today.

Zhou Hongmei, 10, trapped under the rubble of her primary school... "I have not seen my baba and mama. I have not seen my elder brother and elder sister either. I miss them very much. Can you tell me why they don't come to see me?" Nobody wanted to tell her that they were all dead. "When I'm taken onto the plane, you must keep talking to me. I feel very lonely," the girl told a nurse. The doctors say she might have to have her right arm amputated. "We were having a lesson in a second-floor classroom. Suddenly the ground shook. Our teacher shouted to us: 'Run quickly. Earthquake.' I was running across the playground when a big rock fell on me."

Apparently only 215 of the 471 students survived at that school.

Zhang Chunmei, 11, was trapped under the debris for three days before being pulled out. Doctors say her leg might have to be cut off. Her teacher told the newspaper, "She is a very nice girl. I kept talking to her after she was located under the debris. She told me her hair got tangled and she wanted a comb."

This is all from Yingxiu. It takes rescue workers 18 hours to hike the 49km from Dujiangyan, because the roads are so badly destroyed. The PLA soldiers are having to hike to the village.

Teacher Wu Zhonghong of Chongzhou's Huaiyuan primary school led his English class out from a fourth-floor classroom as the quake struck. Wu noticed that two students were missing. The building collapsed as he ran back inside. Thanks to the efforts of Wu and his colleagues, most of the school's 700 children survived.

Village teacher Guo Xiaoxhao, 24, died 11 days after his wedding as he helped dozens of students out of a three-storey school building. He rushed back in to drag children out three times before the building collapsed. He died on the way to the hospital and his last words were "there are still students in the classroom."

Teacher Tan Qianqiu, 50, died shielding four students with his body.

Remember, much of China still adheres to the one child policy. Many people have literally lost everything.

In Wenchuan, people gather around bonfires at night as temperature drops to just a few degrees above freezing. It's raining heavily.

Let's not simply marvel at the destruction. Let's make some TANGIBLE contributions to the people in Sichuan. Give money to Oxfam, Red Cross, talk to your colleagues about doing something (we have a drop box for cash and checks in our office). Tents, blankets, lamps, torches are all needed at this time. Even if it's just a single bottle of water for a thirsty child, that could mean the world to someone. Thanks.

[Ian]

Images from the epicenter.

http://www.box.net/shared/sbqfifl0k0

Please pass this on if you can.

[Ian]

Just watching the news right now.

The PLA can't get heavy digging equipment in, so they have to move tonnes of rubble with sticks.

A school with 500 children buried underneath... yesterday rescue workers could still hear the children crying. Today, silence.

[Darthwing Teorist]

Good thread. I will donate some money today. This is a tragedy beyond description.

[samtao]

This is a terrible tragedy !

That first story of the little girl that lost all her family.....

Man i'm without words

[Chanchu]

Really a sad and horrible disaster I hope that PRC goverment will be sucessful in helping those effected in all areas.
Hope the international community will help.

This type of thing can happen any where in the world I remember katrina here in the US help was late coming and not organized well.

[gosao]

What's a good charity to donate to? Preferably ones where my donations don't all go to the organizations overhead and directly to the people in need.

[Ian]

[Ian]

Starting to see a lot more images in the papers. The media here isn't afraid to display the more graphic images, which is a good thing, I think. Consequently a lot of people are making donations here.

One picture was of a ten year old girl whose thigh had been completely sheared through. All that was left was a fraction of her femur, jutting out at an odd angle. They didn't have any anaesthetic for her, and her face was pale and contorted with pain.

Can you imagine that happening to your child?

What's a good charity to donate to? Preferably ones where my donations don't all go to the organizations overhead and directly to the people in need.

Good question. Anybody have any ideas? So far I've donated to Red Cross only.

[Teazer]

What's a good charity to donate to? Preferably ones where my donations don't all go to the organizations overhead and directly to the people in need.

This is the info I received

>
> -- American Red Cross - Response to the China Earthquake
> www.redcross.org/news/in/profiles/Intl_ ... quake.html
>
> -- MercyCorp http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/
>
> -- Hong Kong Red Cross (choose China Relief)
> https://www.redcross.org.hk/donation/user_donation.asp
>
> Thank you for your attention and precious time. And it would be greatly
> appreciated if you could forward the links above to other people that want
> to help.
>

[gosao]

Okay after doing a bit of my own research I've found that Americares is a good one if you want more of your money to go directly to those who need it instead of filling the paychecks of their employees. It's also not related to any religious organization which is a plus for me.

You can use this link to donate with them or whomever else you want.

http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/in ... 80512.aspx

[Shadowdh]

This link is a good place to start...

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthrea ... earthquake