Asia

Here’s our latest piece on the town of Dujiangyan, one of the cities hit by Monday’s earthquake in Sichuan. My colleague Lin Yang and I visited there yesterday and returned again today. It’s hard to pin …

As the death toll rises to 20,000 or more, more focus will inevitably come to the quality of construction in the towns and villages in rural Sichuan. One of the things that the world is being reminded of in this disaster—and the United States, in particular, needs to be reminded of this– is that China is still a very poor country, …

A good number of people responded to the previous post with alternative ways of contributing money, including by Pay Pal and through outfits other than the Red Cross. Rather than reproduce it all here, I’d direct anyone interested in donating to the comments section of the previous post, which features a number of useful links and …

Reader Nianqingri suggests posting information about how to donate. This comes courtesy of the shanghaiist website:

“For those who are looking to contribute to current aid efforts underway, you can now donate money to the Red Cross Society of China which has formed a disaster relief working group to be dispatched to the

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I spent some time in the region where the earthquake hit worst last year on a story about pandas (the main panda breeding and research center at Wolong is near the epicenter) and fear that the casualty figures are bound to rise quite a bit. It’s a region of steep mountains bisected by narrow valleys which suffer from landslides even in …

A reader in response to a previous post quite rightly raises the (terrible) prospect of damage to Three Gorges Dam, the monumental hydroelectric project located in western Hubei province,about 660 kilometres east of Chengdu. Thus far, both Xinhua and Reuters reports (out of Chengdu) are saying that there is no evidence as yet of any …

At least two chemical plants in the city of Shifang in Sichuan province have been destroyed in the quake. Hundreds are buried in the rubble at both sites. And —ominously?— from at least one of the plants liquid ammonia has been released into the atmosphere because of the destruction, according to Xinhua.net. The overall death toll, …

Remember that the Kobe earthquake in 1995 registered 7.2, and killed 5100 people. The urban infrastructure there, I’d wager, even in 1995, was vastly more “earthquake proof” than the buildings, highways etc. in Chengdu. US geological survey, according to its website, saying this was a 7.8 But the epicenter is about 90 to 100 kilometers …

It’s early days yet but it looks as though the damage from the Sichuan earthquake that hit this afternoon isn’t too bad. (Later note: numbers are rising as they always do. I guess I was being optimistic, a triumph of hope over experience: I recall the first reports out of Aceh only had a few dozen dead) The size of the quake and the fact …

A demonstration one week ago in Chengdu drew attention not because of its size but because of what it symbolized. A few hundred residents of the capitol of Sichuan province marched to protest a planned chemical factory. In a country with as many environmental problems as China, a single protest doesn’t make a movement. But the Chengdu …

Earlier this spring Beijing was hit by a small sandstorm. Or at least, I was told the city was hit by a small sandstorm. I didn’t notice it myself, probably because my neighborhood has been swirling with construction dust for months. My neighbors will stop while hammering away on a …

A team of Chinese climbers carried the Olympic flame to the top of Mount Everest today. After an international torch run that was met with protest and controversy, the summit bid is a clear success, and a welcome one from the eyes of the Beijing government. Chinese vice president Xi …