Sichuan Earthquake

Word coming out of Chengdu of a 7.9 magnitude earthquake.

Initial reports had a few dead. Hours later the number exploded.

The number is just going to get higher.

Here in Beijing we felt only a brief tremor — rattling. I thought it was the crazy old woman who lives beneath me banging on the pipes again.

The only damage I’ve seen in Beijing was a small pedestrian bridge in South Third Ring. The government was quick to block it off and a day later the affected segments — pure concrete mind you — have been completely removed and carted away to wherever it is that pedestrian bridges go to die.

The rest of the nation’s capital remains largely isolated, or really insulated, from the tragedy out west.

No matter how far away we are we are always a world away.

May 14th, 2008 in Current Events, Journal |