Living Water Park (Huo Shui Gong Yuan)

With the frequency of updates over the past few weeks readers seem to expect regular signs of life. Here are some pcitures of a local park that I took last month.

It is an ecological park with water running through it and explanations of how each stage benefits the water. The kids are playing in it at any stage that was available though. A few of them had these squirt gun toys.



Towards the end of the park was an enormous bird house with doves.

Still OK. Still not the last earthquake post.

I was at friends' for supper tonight when they started getting Skype pings from their home country - the news of the latest aftershock had broken. (My friends' apartment had enormous cracks and chunks missing in their walls, apparently like many in their complex.) Today's aftershock was entirely the doing of my roommate, who was on the phone with her family at the time and who had just chirped to her parents that the seismic activity had ceased and that life was very boring. Today's aftershock was 5.5-6.4 depending on which article you read, but definitely was strong enough to feel and sent people out to the streets. The epicentre was quite a ways away from the city though.

Tianfu Square, May 21

Today is the final official day of mourning. When China says 'no fun' it means what it says - movie theatres are closed, my gym was closed, and even entertainment websites like tudou.com were partially or totally blocked. I met some of my students for coffee at the Starbucks beside Tianfu Square in the evening and afterwards while crossing the square to get a bus home I passed vehement displays of grief and nationalism beside silent groups sitting with lit candles. Here is a group marching around the edge of the square:


Another group towards the north side of the square with M*o looking on:



A group of students:



Another, more subdued group of students.

Nine Days Later

The tarp and tent towns are looking more and more civilized, with people hanging clothes out and chilling in the afternoons.

This one is in the middle of the street in front of a hospital, and appears to be an extension of the hospital.

Another Night Outside

I keep thinking that I am doing my last earthquake post, but it is not to be... The period of mourning was to provide no closure as fear spread on the streets Monday night due to a report that a strong aftershock (6-7 on Richter scale) was expected. We could hear trucks broadcasting something in the streets and the security cops were out in full force. Finally, at about eleven, we decided to join those who were going to sleep outside again. I ended up joining a group of foreign students on the sports field at Chuan Da university. We were in a big 'tent town' like many that have sprung up all over the city in the past week, occupied by people whose homes have been damaged too much for living. These semipermanent tent town residents were joined by us single nighters (mostly just with blankets).


The night was warm at first but grew quite cold and hardly any of us slept. As for the expected aftershock, we got a few but none stronger than 5 - barely a wobble. The week's events have really taken their toll on people psychologically and many of the foreign students including some of my friends have decided to return to their home countries.

A friend has just sent me a message about an official announcement of no more aftershocks (hmmmmm, did they pass a law?). I will be stupid tired for the rest of the day.

Day of Mourning

The sign, roughly, says Deeply Felt Grief (lit., deep stabs of grief) for our Compatriot Victims of the Great Wenchuan Earthquake.

Flags flew at half mast today and at 2:28 p.m. people poured on to the street again just as we had exactly one week before on a day that seems like forever ago. This time we came out to mourn the victims of the earthquake. Many businesses had their staff standing out in front of the buildings and some had the bright round funeral wreaths. Most public banners here have red backgrounds but today they were in black and white (the colour of mourning).

I tried to make my way down to Tianfu Square in the centre of the city for the moment of silence but was still one bus stop away from my destination when the time came. Traffic halted, everyone stood, and most motorists leaned on their horns. Here is what the moment was like for me:



I did make my way to the square eventually which was still crowded with people. The mood was not sombre but intense and full of national pride, with people chanting things like 加油 中国. (Go China!) and some other slogans that I could not make out. Many people were carrying white paper flowers and some had real bouquets.



Quite a few were wearing these 'I heart China' t-shirts:

Sunday update

Last night I was particularly ready for a good sleep after going for an amazing massage. (My second visit this week to my massage guy, who had garlicky hands when I went on Tues but who otherwise gets better every time.) Then at about 1:30 am we got one of the worst aftershocks so far which panicked the people in our complex and sent many running outdoors again. This happened about the same time as an enormous thunderstorm, so we could see the trees swaying crazily but didn't know if it was from the earth or the wind. We nearly went out with the crowds but the rainfall was a little more daunting than the prospect of further shaking, so we stayed in.

This morning I had an early appointment close to a McDonald's so popped in for coffee, juice, and egg sandwich. When I tasted the coffee it was cool and bitter so I went up to the counter to get a fresher cup. As I was waiting I saw a man walk towards my table and thought he was grabbing a nearby seat, but when I returned with the fresh coffee my one-third-eaten sandwich and shu bing (hash browns) had disappeared. My Chinese mental phrasebook does not have an entry for 'hey, some guy just stole my egg mcmuffin!' so I could only explain that my food got lost as I ordered a new one.

Wednesday and Thursday

Wednesday was the first day the rain let up enough to allow rescuers into the worst hit areas and we began to hear how bad things really were. On Wednesday also a rumor got started that the water supply was polluted and the water would be shut off for several days. People started running to the stores in panic and clearing everything off the shelves. The aftershocks were still jarring us from time to time and nobody had had a decent sleep for a couple of days so it was one of the toughest days of the whole experience. By Wednesday evening our phones started to work more reliably, the water and elevators were back on, and most things were back to normal.



I went to the market near my house and found it had been converted to a camp for those who are still homeless.



Street corners in many neighborhoods are sprouting these aid collection depots.

Pictures from Monday

This was the scene a couple of minutes after everyone fled their houses. Some are trying to phone people but mobile networks are completely down. Nobody knows what is happening.



A similar scene at a nearby street. Everyone is afraid to go indoors. (After a few hours we were tired of standing so went into a teahouse that had a table near the door.)


Sleeping on the street. (This is kind of what we looked like)

Checking in

After a day things are partly back to normal but lots of places are still closed and we continue to get strong aftershocks. It rained all day yesterday and most of the night, but at least has stopped raining now. People are pretty jittery when the aftershocks happen. I am OK except for lack of sleep.

Earthquake

A woman we chatted with outside our complex yesterday has lived in the area for over seventy years and has never felt an earthquake. We had definitely just felt one; I was home with my roommate at about 2:30 in the afternoon when we felt the floor shaking. At first we thought the washer was overloaded but quickly realized that the situation was much more serious and rushed down the stairs grabbing our shoes but not having time to put them on. When we got outside others were also pouring out of the buildings, many of who looked like they had been interrupted in the middle of naps and had also not taken time to put on clothes. Besides the uncertainty, the worst part was that phone lines were totally jammed so it was really hard to get in touch with anyone. We wandered around but nobody knew if it was safe to go back inside so we went around to the front gate of our building and there found some of our friends who lived nearby and had come to check on us. Most stores and restaurants were closing but the convenience stores were still open so we could buy water and snacks.

In our rush we had left our place without keys but managed to get a spare from a friend and finally got back in to check about 11:00 that night. We were very relieved to find our bird still alive! His cage had not even been knocked off its little shelf. We had our cupboard doors hanging open and stuff fallen off of the bathroom shelf but there was no other damage, not even any broken glasses. We were not locked out of our place (and the water and power stayed on) but we slept outdoors with our friends as a precaution. At the beginning it was kind of fun to be sleeping out in the open air since it was a nice mild night and we sang songs til about one in the morning. The parks were a pretty funny sight, people sleeping all over the place or sitting and playing cards and smoking away. Many people slept in their cars and I saw one family in a rickshaw - two women in the back, a man on the footrest with his head resting on the handle of their baby's carriage. Laying on the ground, we could still feel the odd tremor.

At about five it started raining so we decided to risk going back inside. We will be on alert for a few more hours but it definitely looks like the worst is over.