Comments on: 13 :: Heartquake

By: HP

HP — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:55:30 +0000

I can’t imagine the pain of all these parents.

By: HP

HP — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:47:07 +0000

By: HP

HP — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:46:24 +0000

I asked my friend again, just for kicks. He said at first there was no news about it at all, compared to all the reports in the western media. (He said he first heard it from me, a day after it happened, and he was in HONG KONG at the time, which seems incredulous to me.) But now he says there is a lot of news about it, but it seems to really emphasize how great the government and President Hu is doing in the response. He says they are not sugar coating the fact that a lot of people died (the numbers the Chinese media is publishing are the same as the international/US media), there’s just a different nationalistic “tilt” in their media regarding the government’s response compared to the western media outlets he has access to on his western Blackberry connection. (Then again, who’s to say the “western media” isn’t whats “tilted” and the Chinese media is straight up…)

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:18:32 +0000

HP - From what I’ve heard, the coverage has been 24/7 across China.

The only way your friend in Suzhou would not know about this huge tragedy is if he is just not paying attention.

Even China’s English language media outlets have been covering this event from the minutes following the quake.

That doesn’t mean the media is not ‘controlled’ - it just means your friend is probably not the type of guy you want to talk to when discussing ‘current’ events.

By: Lance

Lance — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:59:54 +0000

Here’s an update from Rick at 10:43am:

hey lance,

everyone at school here is fine. we were pretty lucky though as you can see from the always increasing statistics. we’re all still in a bit of shock, but our area of chengdu received little damage. thanks for checking in.

rick

And HP, here’s a great article about China’s improved responsiveness and public relations in the wake of disasters.

By: HP

HP — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:32:31 +0000

Wierd. A friend from work is in China on business (Suzhou area) and hadn’t heard about the earthquake until I emailed him the story. The media over there must be really controlled…

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:14:04 +0000

I’m wishing I were there too…

By: Lance

Lance — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:53:57 +0000

Chinese bloggers seem to be going a little nuts in the wake of the quake, talking abut migrating butterflies, drained ponds, an invasion of toads, and various other conspiracy theories (some involving the Olympics). Just check out this Times Online article for more. Strange.

But every person within China who I’ve talked to so far is just devastated, feeling the ripples much more deeply than I ever felt about 9/11 or similar incidents. It makes me want to be there.

By: Isaac Downing

Isaac Downing — Tue, 13 May 2008 15:49:36 +0000

As soon as I heard about it I thought of you and how close you were living to the area affected by the quake. It just breaks my heart to think of it and to watch the clips of rescue workers.