I expect some heads (literally) will roll after this disaster. Some of the officials and builders will face jail time and maybe even executions due to gross negligence and violation of existing laws.
If there was a "chinese flaming douchebag society", wnes would post 40,000 words about how awesome it was and how every other flaming douchebag society was suspect. Condolences to everyone affected by this disaster. The images are heartbreaking.
Probably a few will get put in prison for life here and there, but regardless of this earthquake, there probably won't be much of a change. The rich people will probably move.
I'm not sure if any of you caught the NPR reporting on the aftermath yesterday. They have a good team in China right now, as they were going to do profiles before the Olympics. It was like nothing I've ever heard. A reporter spent a day with two parents who were trying to find their two-year-old and the grandparents in the rubble of their apartment building. It was absolutely heart-rending... made it very real.
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As a volunteer for the American Red Cross allow me to defend them for a moment. Yes its true the ARC is riddled with bureaucracy and has had a share of management problems but given the size of its operations it has done a fairly good job and is one of the first to be on the seen at disasters, sometimes, even ahead of the US government. The situation over 9/11 wasn't a matter of bait and switch but one where the ARC did a poor job explaining how the money was used. Consider when a disaster strikes the ARC has to immediately mobilize relief supplies. Now consider where does the money come from to pay for that? It comes from the general fund. By the time donations start coming in the ARC has already spent a lot of money mobilizing so money that comes in often goes to the general fund to pay off debts and to prepare for the next disaster. In 9/11 frankly more money came into the ARC than they could use to pay for 9/11 since the ARC doesn't do long term recovery but immediate recovery a lot of that money went onto prepare for other disasters. The ARC did a terrible job explaining this but it wasn't like that money went to line official pockets and money given to help out a disaster does end up going to help out a disaster. It just might be the next one.
The CA building codes are the strictest in the US, possibly the world, and are updated regularly. While the Loma Prieta and Northridge earthquakes were bad there still was a relatively small loss of life and the CA codes were upgraded further to address those. A large enough earthquake will always cause damage and there is no such thing as an absolutely earthquake proof building but with better codes you can minimize the damage. I don't know how CA would do facing that large of an earthquake, and hopefully we won't have to find out, but I have the feeling things wouldn't be nearly as bad.
Lets not turn this into a flame war. Wnes has the right to his opinion and while I will defend the ARC he is right that they do have problems.
Sishir: I wholeheartedly support wnes' right to his opinion. I don't support his hijacking every thread about China simply to disagree with even the suggestion of critique.
How about Seattle? http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_seismic_seattle.html A new study indicates that as 1000 buildings in Seattle could fall down in a strong earthquake http://www.enterprisenewspapers.com/article/20080514/NEWS01/385374039/0/ETPZoneLT Could an earthquake disaster like China's happen here [Seattle]? To me it sounds like this is a wake up call, as it should be. On the other hand, I'm skeptical about anything that requires government, and the developers they regulate, to put in extra money/effort to guard against once-in-a-lifetime disasters. OTOH, being from TX I know very little about the situation over on the wesssyyyde! That's why I'm asking. Seeing as how WA surprisingly seems to be unprepared, considering they've been living right on top of a major fault and all for lord knows how long already, can CA developers/government really be trusted to have not taken shortcuts over the years that much more than WA?
A couple videos that really, really brought tears to my eye: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/05/13/vause.china.quake.ground.zero.cnn ... and a story in Chinese. A soldier that hasn't slept in 3 days/3 nights bursts into tears over the lives he couldn't save, and falls unconscious in front of the media. http://tv.sohu.com/20080515/n256885415.shtml In the early days of the disaster, I donated about $3000. I thought it was a decent donation... but the recent images, stories, videos have really reminded me of how vast the devastation is. Yao Ming recently raised his donation to something like $300k... and that inspired me even further. I can't match that, but I'm going to donate $30k this weekend. I feel a great deal of responsibility for my country. This is the least that I can do.
can someone show me how to donate using the information on this site? http://202.108.59.10/english/ i think this is the red cross site. all of the online donation are suspended or something. i am not sure how money transfer works. maybe i should wait until online method is working again.
1. Mail payment remittance To:the Red Cross Society of China Address: No.53 ganmianhutong Dongcheng district Beijing,100010 2. Bank post remittance Bank name: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Dong Si Nan Branch, Beijing Account number: 02000010090144132—52 Account Name: the Red Cross Society of China 3. In-person donation You may send the money directly to RCSC or its branches with the information of your address. Please notify donor’s name and postal address clearly so that the receipt could be sent to you. In kind doation You may send the items directly to the local Red Cross or the Red Cross in the disaster affected areas. (Note: You may also send them to Chinese Red Cross Logistics and Service Center,＂No.43 ganmianhutong, Dongcheng district, Beijing＂) Doesn't look like they have credit card payments. I am not sure how the bank account work, it looks different than us bill pay accounts. Maybe someone can help on this?
http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200805/news-gb2312-597970.html before and after pictures. not sure if it's real, but you can see the river is now blocked.
Bank post = wire transfer, but they don't give you the SWIFT code, so I don't think you can do it from the USA using this method. If they had a SWIFT code, you could go to your bank, fill out a form that would take about 10 minutes, pay a small fee ($10-$20), and the money would end up as a 'wire transfer' deposit into their bank account in about 2 days. From European banks, the whole process is instantaneous and can be done online. It is the quickest and most secure way to send money internationally.
