Stories about Disaster from May, 2008
China: Earthquake Video
Michael Zhao made a 9 mins video on the 512 Wenchuan Earthquake with English subtitles.
China: Environmental Fallout After Sichuan Earthquake
A week after China's deadly earthquake killed nearly 56,000 people, environmental and other costs of the 8.0 magnitude earthquake are becoming clearer. On this post we examine posts related to the environmental fallout of the earthquake, and also the plight of animals in the earthquake area. Plans for a proposed...
China: Q&A with Premier Wen
An increasing number of questions are being asked as China continues to mourn for the massive number of lives lost in the earthquake in Sichuan earlier this month. Veteran news figure Rose Luqiu has posted her recent questions to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on her blog along with his answers, in full.
Myanmar: U.N. leader speech
Ashin Mettacara posts the speech delivered by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who visited Yangon, Myanmar this week. Excerpt of the speech: “I saw the saddest things: homes and villages destroyed, fields flooded, roads and bridges washed away, so many lives lost. We work hard in our lives, for ourselves and...
Poland: Irena Sendler Obituary
Edward Lucas reposts the obituary of Irena Sendler, saviour of children in the Warsaw ghetto.
China: What the Olympics Will Look Like
Xueyong wonders what the Beijing Olympics will look like after the disaster as people are still in the mourning mood. He suggests that the government should not take the lead in framing the Olympics but leave space for the people to express their emotions and feelings[zh].
China: Ill-luck 2008
Maryannodonnell posted a mobile text message at Shenzhen Fieldnotes: Dog-FXXked 2008.
YouTube starts citizen journalism channel
Giving citizen journalism videos more airtime has just gotten easier: YouTube video uploading website has opened a new channel exclusively for citizen videos named CitizenNews. Vloggers who specialize in reporting what is going on where they live can now subscribe to the channel and let the world know what is going on.
China: Internet Spy Spreading Rumors?
A message mobilizing people to boycott internet spy has been spreading around via e-mails and forums. All negative comments about earthquake relief work are considered as rumors written by spies. Jenny pointed out that the message intended to block and threaten all negative comments rather than dealing with problems with...
China: Man-made Mistake in Earthquake Relief
Wang Hua from china-week listed out several mistakes made by People's Liberation Army in the 512 earthquake relief work. The rescue team has missed the golden 72 hours to save the victims[zh].
China: Volunteer Force
A hug number of volunteers rushed to Sichuan to help the earthquake victim. Zhai Minglei is one of them, he pointed out that civic force, even though they don't have legal status due to government policy, has contributed a lot in the relief work [zh], but the CCTV camera only...
China: One Angle Earthquake Story
Barokoliebe is troubled by the single angle earthquake story told by mainstream media [zh].
China: Letter to Earthquake Child Victim
1KG.org launched an action to collect letters and deliver them to Sichuan earthquake child Victims [zh]. The organizer hope that the letter senders would continue to communicate with the children and give them love and care.
China: Mourning for Earthquake at Tiananmen
hk1183 posted photos of Sichuan earthquake mourning at Tiananmen square on 19 of May, Beijing.
China and Hong Kong: Interviewing Earthquake Reporter
Ling Nan from inmediahk.net, interviewed a Hong Kong reporter in Sichuan earthquake center about issues that hadn't been reported in Hong Kong mainstream media [zh]. The reporter also criticized the way official Chinese media handle the news.
Trinidad & Tobago: Emergency 101
A fatal road accident along Trinidad's North Coast leads KnowProSE.com to comment: “Emergency medicine infrastructure and preventative measures are not a priority, it seems. It seems a victim of economic triage…does the Government of Trinidad and Tobago value the lives of citizens and visitors, much less the quality of life?”
Videos: Creativity in facing the water crisis
With two very recent natural disasters in mind: the cyclone in Myanmar and the Earthquake in Sichuan, China, the topic of getting pure and drinkable water to needy populations has come back into the conversation. Following, several videos which propose different solutions to supply clean water or at least make it easier for people to have a healthful liquid to drink.
China: Earthquake Rumors
ESWN translated an article about the spreading of earthquake rumors.
China: Listing Collapsed School Building
Myscnu, a teacher discussion board, tried to put together a list of collapsed school buildings in the Sichuan earthquake. So far there are about 40 in the list.
China: Donation Guideline
Unicorn criticized the donation guideline within collective owned work unit (or danwei). The guideline is to ensure that one cannot donate more than their superiors.
China: Thank You to Japanese Rescue Team
Zhang Hui, from china-week, compared the attitude of Chinese and Japanese rescue team in the earthquake relief work. The blogger expressed his thankfulness to Japanese friends for bringing a new humanitarian practice to China[zh]. A recent Xinhua photos showed how Japanese rescue team mourned for the deaths when bodies were...
