Powerful Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake Rocks Central China; 900 Students Buried

[TheSarge]

CHONGQING —  A powerful, magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck mountainous central China on Monday, killing at least 107 people and burying nearly 900 students at a high school in the country's Sichuan Province.

The Xinhua News Agency did not immediately give any other details or say if any of the students were thought to be alive, but the death toll looked likely to soar as authorities and rescue teams make contact with areas whose roads and phone lines have been cut off since the tremor hit.

Injuries were also reported in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province, where the earthquake was centered. A statement issued by the local government said the quake cracked and collapsed buildings, and damaged mountain roads.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,355036,00.html

[Lord Undies]

Wow.  That is bad.  I wish them well. 

Of course, we won't get any reliable information from China.  I'm surprised they shared this much.

[West Coaster]

Fox is providing excellent coverage of this.  The estimate is now more than 8000 dead, including 900 schoolchildren!

[DixieBelle]

Oh my God, that's horrible.

Perhaps with the spotlight on China due to the Olypmics, we'll see more coverage.

[jendf]

On foxnews.com, you can see some homemade video by some college students. Scary stuff!

[Flame]

Somehow this has got to be blamed on Bush....I mean, it's impossible for 8000 people to die and not to have it tie in to the evil Bush cartel somehow!  /du mode



Prayers being said for those suffering in China and in Burma.

[Ptarmigan]

Asia has suffered a lot this month. Condolences to anyone who lost loved ones in China.
 

[Willow]

Greta just cited the death toll at 10,000, that is mind boggling. just awful!

[Tess Anderson]

Revised upwards to 15,000, right in central China.The Chinese Army has deployed 130,000 + troops to the scene, good thing they have so many people around.

[Bluesuiter-Retired]

Bad karma!!

What comes around goes around.  They shipped us poisioned pet food AND childrens toys which were decorated with lead-based paint.

Please explain why we should really care how many chinese perished.  There are over a BILLION chinese, so losing 50,000 won't make much of a dent in their population.  Hell, 1 MILLION chinese could die in a natural disaster and it sill wouldn't have much of an impact.

Just imagine, there is just that much more food to go around.

[DixieBelle]

^because the majority of the Chinese aren't the ones who sold us tainted products? That's a really low down thing to say about the deaths of over 20,000 people.

I hope your comment was tongue-in-cheek or a botched attempt at sarcasm. (Please avail yourself of the appropriate smilie next time lest people think the worst of you).

Railing on the Chinese in general or expressing your displease over our trade is fine. You will find lots of people here that agree with you. But this thread is not the place to politicize a tragedy.