2008 China Quake

Stories

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May 2009
- Quake Survivors Find Love Among the Ruins
  
  Guardian (UK) | May 13, 09 5:43 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A year after the quake that devastated China's Sichuan province, many survivors have new loves if not new homes, the Guardian reports. In Beichuan—where only 4,000 of the town's 22,000 people survived—some 600 widows and widowers have remarried, and the government hopes more will soon follow as the town rebuilds. More »
- Artist Presses China on Child Quake Victims
  
  Time | May 12, 09 8:42 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China today marked one year since the Sichuan earthquake that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing. But the government has still not published results of an investigation, and parents whose children died in shoddily constructed schools have faced police intimidation. The parents have found an unlikely advocate, Time reports: Ai Weiwei, a star artist who has relentlessly pressed for information. More »
- A Year After China Quake, a Baby Boom
  
  Los Angeles Times | May 3, 09 1:42 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The devastation is still raw from the earthquake that snuffed out thousands of young lives in rural China a year ago, reports the Los Angeles Times , but many grieving parents have found new hope in the form of another baby. More than 10% of new mothers in one Sichuan Province hospital had lost children in the quake—a grief that was only intensified by China's single-child policy. More »
February 2009
- Dam May Have Triggered China Quake
  
  New York Times | Feb 6, 09 12:22 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - The damming-up of 320 million tons of water in a reservoir above a geological fault line may have contributed to the earthquake that left 80,000 dead or missing last year in China’s Sichuan province, US and Chinese geologists say. Whether or not the scientists are right, the suggestion is likely to spark political turmoil in China, reports the New York Times . More »
December 2008
- Quake-Bereft Chinese Sow New Baby Boom
  
  Wall Street Journal | Dec 4, 08 12:02 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Some parents who lost their state-mandated only child in China’s May earthquake—which crushed at least 19,000 students under shoddy school buildings—are rushing to conceive again, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Chinese government announced an exemption from its one-child policy for such victims, and more than 800 have already registered their desire to get pregnant again. More »
November 2008
- 2,000 Chinese Rioters Mob Gov't Building in Quake Dispute
  
  CNN | Nov 18, 08 7:42 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - An angry mob of some 2,000 people stormed Communist Party headquarters in a city in China's Gansu province last night to protest a decision to move the town's quake-damaged administrative center. The protest turned violent when officials refused to listen to complaints that families would have to move to get help, and called in armed police to disperse the protest in Longnan, one of several communities hit by last spring's devastating earthquakes, CNN reports. More »
September 2008
- China Admits Quake-Hit Schools Were Poorly Built
  
  BBC | Sep 4, 08 11:30 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Chinese official admitted today that shoddy construction led to the collapse of some schools during last May’s earthquake, which killed thousands of children. “The structures were not necessarily reasonable and the materials were not necessarily strong enough,” the chairman of the government’s quake probe conceded, reports the BBC. More »
August 2008
- Deadly Quake Hits Southwest China
  
  Los Angeles Times | Aug 31, 08 6:51 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A 5.7 earthquake struck an area near Panzhihua City in southwest China yesterday, killing at least 22 people and destroying 1,000 homes in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, reports the Los Angeles Times. Rescue teams were racing to the area to help at least 126 injured. Heavy rains and difficult terrain were delaying relief efforts, officials said. Some 70,000 people were killed in Sichuan province when a massive earthquake struck in May. More »
- 6.0 Quake Shakes China's Sichuan
  
  Associated Press | Aug 5, 08 8:07 AM CDT
  
  (AP) - A 6.0 earthquake today rattled China's Sichuan province, which was devastated by a more powerful quake in May, the US Geological Survey said. One person was killed, reports CNN, and five seriously injured. The tremblor is the latest of numerous aftershocks from the 7.9 quake that struck Sichuan on May 12 and killed almost 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless. More »
July 2008
- Chinese Teacher Sent to Labor Camp Over Quake Dissent
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jul 30, 08 11:31 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A Chinese teacher has been sent to a labor camp for a year of "re-education" after he posted online photos of school buildings that collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake, the Guardian reports. The man, who was neither formally charged with a crime nor given a trial, is one of many demanding answers from the Chinese government as to why so many schools were destroyed while nearby buildings remained standing. More »
- China Pushes 'Hush Money' on Grieving Quake Parents
  
  New York Times | Jul 24, 08 3:41 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Officials in China's Sichuan province are buying the silence of parents who lost children in May's devastating earthquake, the New York Times reports. Grieving parents are being pressured to sign agreements accepting $9,000 in compensation if they stop asking questions about why so many schools collapsed. They are told they will get nothing if they refuse to sign. More »
- Chinese School-Collapse Critic Busted as Spy
  
  New York Times | Jul 11, 08 5:28 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An activist who tried to help bereaved Sichuan parents get answers about why so many schools collapsed in May's earthquake has been arrested, the New York Times reports. Huang Qi was taken away by plainclothes police after posting information about the parents on his website. He has been accused of possessing state secrets and could face years in jail. More »
- Mother Nature's Wrath Creates Prosperity
  
  Boston Globe | Jul 8, 08 7:25 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Casualties aside, natural disasters may not be so devastating after all. Catastrophes like the recent earthquake in China destroy old buildings and roads, making way for new and improved infrastructure that may not have been created otherwise and pumping cash into the economy. In the long term, updated technology and efficiencies have the potential to create a more productive economy, reports the Boston Globe . More »
June 2008
- China Quake Beat the Odds
  
  LiveScience | Jun 30, 08 4:06 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The earthquake that leveled parts of China’s Sichuan province last month was a geological oddity arising from usually inactive faults, LiveScience reports. The bizarre seismological coincidences behind the quake explain why no one was able to predict the event, which claimed 69,000 lives. More »
- Breastfeeding Officer Sparks Debate in China
  
  Reuters | Jun 22, 08 5:44 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A policewoman has sparked debate in Beijing after breastfeeding nine orphaned babies during last month's earthquake, Reuters reports. Officials have promoted Jiang Xiaojuan, 30, calling her "hero and model police officer," but others argue that merit, not deeds, should lead to promotion. Xiaojuan left her baby at home to help with disaster relief and earned the press nickname "police mum." More »
- China to Reverse Sterilization for Quake Parents
  
  Xinhua (China) | Jun 6, 08 4:40 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China will send medical teams to areas hit by last month’s earthquake to reverse sterilization procedures for couples who want to have another child, Xinhua reports. The Sichuan family planning agency is providing free surgery and counseling to couples who were once sterilized in accordance with the nation's one-child policy. About 7,000 of the earthquake's fatalities were the lone children in their families. More »
- 5.3 Aftershock Shakes Sichuan
  
  Associated Press | Jun 5, 08 4:55 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Another strong aftershock has rattled China's quake-devastated Sichuan province amid increased concerns about lake floodwaters, reports AP. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from the 5.3 tremblor, which came as authorities began evacuating people downstream from a lake formed by last month's quake. The water level in the "quake lake" is rising, putting over a million survivors at risk from flooding. More »
- Chinese Police Drag Parents From Protest
  
  Associated Press | Jun 3, 08 8:11 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Chinese police cracked down on parents protesting today over poorly-constructed schools they say killed their children in last month’s earthquake, the AP reports. Protesters had been chanting “we want to sue” before police dragged them down the street away from a courthouse, with some yelling for an explanation. The protest occurred as a top Chinese official toured the city. More »
- Quake-Rattled Pandas Get Hugs, Bamboo
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jun 3, 08 6:52 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Zookeepers are helping pandas traumatized by the Sichuan earthquake get back to normal with hugs and games, the Guardian reports. Eight young pandas have been sent to Beijing Zoo and 47 more remain at the Wolong reserve, where the deputy chief said the animals' appetites are back to normal, but warns it will take up to 20 years for the center to fully recover. More »
- China Silences Media on School Collapses
  
  Financial Times (UK) | Jun 2, 08 6:27 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - China has called on domestic media to quit reporting on widespread school collapses in the Sichuan earthquake, the Financial Times reports. Some parents hold the government accountable for poor construction they say claimed thousands of children’s lives, and the furor has hurt the positive reviews of China’s response to the quake. Parents continued to highlight the issue this weekend. More »