China: Quake damage rising; witness in affected cities   · Global Voices
Bob Chen

Death tolls: 22069 (official statistic,23pm,05.16). The number is estimated to rise up to 50000 in following days. The update in this post will be stopped. So hard to see the relentlessly rising number!
Further coverage on this quake might be put forward soon….Prayers.
Updated: The previously isolated towns in epicenter finally saw the first 1300 soldiers. But as the landslide cut off most the roads and high way, communication remains hard.
Situation of another 50 thousand people is yet unknown. In Peng-zhou, over 100 thousand people were estimated to be blocked up inside mountains. Troops are  getting through the hindrance.
Updated: 9219 （8.00 am, 05.13） deaths were reported in 8 provinces. But still, nothing is known from the 3 towns at the epicenter.
Bei-chuan county was much buried by the falling rocks. Part of it was devastated, kindergartens and schools suffering the most.
The landslide is still hiting the region.
A picture of Bei-chuan before the earthquake
Bei-chuan now, almost devastated
In a secondary school in Dujiangyan, where 900 students were reported to be buried, the collapsed teaching buildings  have killed over 60 students.
Their bodies were laid on the playground.  PRAY!
A list of casualty in every affected regions was being refreshed in portal websites.
Updated: 9219（8.00 am, 05.13） deaths were reported in 8 provinces, while the information in Wenchuan county (汶川县),the epicenter, is still unknown.  It has been isolated as the communication and roads were cut off. The place is where Han, Tibetans, Hui people lived together.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck China at 2:28 p.m. local time. The quake was centered at Wen-chuan county, Sichuan province, some 50 miles west-northwest to Chengdu, where 12 million people live. It was not only intense but massive as well, since across the country has felt its impact. Up till now 107 deaths have been reported, along with cases of injured and collapsed buildings.
The road to Wen-chuan has been paralyzed.
The casualty is feared to be still rising.
Updated: In the evening, 3000 to 5000 deaths were estimated in Beichuan county, contiguous to the epicenter.
After about an hour of the tremor, related news was released on scores of websites, including Xinhua Net, the official news agency.
Premier Wenjiabao has reached the disaster area to lead the rescue, saying that the situation is “particularly severe”. 5000 soldiers have been sent for rescue.
The range of the quake’s impact is huge. It could by no means be covered up as shortly after the seism occurred, from southern cities as far as Hong Kong and Haikou, to northern metropolises such as Beijing, or populated regions like Chongqing and Shanghai, tremor, shaking, and dizziness caused by wobbling were felt in varied degree.
Swarms of people went online to share their experiences during the quakes that lasted for over 10 seconds. A roundup is coming.
A netizen from Beijing reported:
木樨地有震感！我还以为是自己头晕呢，原来是发地震了！
I could feel the timber floor vibrating! I first thought I was just giddy. Then I realized it was an earthquake.
Another netizen in Tianjing commented
我单位在16层，震感很明显，持续了约2分钟。
I worked on the 16th floor, and the tremor was evident. It continued for about 2 minutes.
Beijing and Tianjing were 960 miles to the northeast of the epicenter, a fact from which people came to realize how severe the seism was. The picture below showed exactly the evacuated people outside the building of Xinhua Net, the official news agency in Beijing.
In tianya, a special thread was opened to collect the information from all over the country about the astounding minutes.
Briel told what he felt in Luoyang, Henan, middle China.
我在十楼上。。。突然发现自己在晃。灯在乱抖，然后外面有玻璃哗啦掉的声音。。
晃的好厉害啊！
现在好了。
I was on the 10th floor, and suddenly felt myself in shaking. The lamp was swaying and the crack of falling glass from outside was heard. So crazily shaking!
It’s better now.
There was no exception even in Ningbo, a coastal city on the east-south. NeverFly said:
摇的非常厉害啊
我在18楼，前后摇晃的感觉非常明显，感觉在坐船一样
而且人有明显的恶心头晕感
我出门问别人什么事
单位同事叫我跑下去
我们走到消防楼梯一看，全是人
走到楼下一看，写字楼的人基本都跑出来了
到现在还觉得有点头晕恶心呢
So terribly shaking!
I was on the 18th floor, and could feel strongly the house swaying to and fro, just like on a boat. I was so dizzy at the time. When running out to ask about what happened, my colleagues told me to go downstairs. People gathered on the staircases. And I saw all people in the office building were out there.
I am still feeling uncomfortable.
Feeling dizzy is what quite a lot of people initially felt when the quake coming. Most of them were amazed at the situation, having no idea what was happened. But soon the instinct forced them to act.
In a voting “do you feel the quake?” on Tianya.com, Chongqing, a city of over 30 million people, topped the list that most people felt the tremor there. The city was contiguous to Sichuna province.
In 163.com, someone from Chongqing told her hard time:
当时正睡午觉,货架上的货物哗哗掉,只见房子剧烈晃动,老公拉上我就跑,车都没敢去开~~~~
从来没想过,合川还会地震
I was taking a nap then, and heard the packages and sundries clamoring down, and the house shaking intensely. My husband dragged me away on foot immediately, without even trying to get in the car.
I have never thought the city would meet an earthquake.
In a Chongqing community, people in panic
yybz020123 told about Xi'an, a city in mid-China:
西安震感强烈，有十几秒，大地在抖，窗子，门，在响，现在院子里都是人，手机没型号
The city was rocking for over 10 seconds, the land trembling, so were the windows, doors rattling. Now people are gathering in the yard. But the cellphones are not able to work.
According to the updated news, 2300 telecommunication towers were disrupted by the quake, which added to the hardship of rescue.
Students getting rescued.
Shanghai was affected as well.
上海有震感，我们大楼晃了几分钟，头晕得厉害
The quake was felt here too. Our building wobbled for a few minutes, which made me dizzy.
Deep-adventure was in Guangzhou
广州感觉到了 我还以为我患了帕金逊
当时蹲在椅子上 全身不自觉左摇右摆 好可怕
7.8级 祈求不要有人员伤亡
今年有点烦
Guangzhou got it, too. I thought I had parkinsonism.
I was then crouching on my seat, involuntarily shaking left and right. So terrible!
7.8! Pray no one get hurt. Such a year!