crying

CCTV 1 is back to the wall-to-wall coverage of the Sichuan quake that we saw last night.

Note: I almost never watch TV, so I have no idea what’s been broadcast, really. I noticed, when I stopped by a colleague’s place after class, just before 5 this evening, that CCTV 9 also had live coverage. I only turned on the TV because I noticed it was 7:30 and I thought I should at least catch the weather forecast. lzh is out with a friend, you see, and so had I not thought of the weather, the TV would not have been turned on until she got home.

Well, the ads are playing as per normal, but I noticed the weather forecast had a particular focus on the disaster zone, and that they were forecasting clear and warm weather for tomorrow. Good, they need a break down there, and good weather will increase people’s chances of surviving.

Tonight’s edition of 焦点访谈 just ended. It focused, as you may see from that link, on the quake. Dammit, man, it’s just heartbreaking watching that footage, seeing those photos. There was much footage of rescue teams trying to pull people out of the wreckage, including one segment in which the camera and sound people got up close and personal as a team made contact with one buried survivor, reassured the poor kid (I’m pretty sure it was a young girl, although it was hard to tell from what was on TV) and started discussing how to pull her out. They had to make a run for it as another aftershock hit, but they got back to this kid as soon as they could, and got her out. In another segment, a young child, about seven or eight years old so far as I could tell, was pulled out and stretchered away to medical attention. The look of sheer relief on her face was astounding.

These guys, these rescue teams, be they specialist earthquake rescue teams or ordinary soldiers, police or civilians drafted in, they’re real heroes. They’re incredible. They have my utmost respect. I am in awe of them. I can only pray that God gives them all the strength necessary, and then some, to keep going.

Whatever programme it is that’s followed 焦点访谈 (didn’t pay attention to the title, but in the bottom right of the screen is 抗震救灾；众志成城) after the insufferably long ad break has continued with the quake coverage. They’re now on a CGI view of the terrain of the affected area discussing damage to various villages and towns, but they just broadcast footage of Wen Jiabao flying around on a PLA-AF Mil helicopter keeping tabs on the effort. Damn, that man is good. He looked to be on the verge of emotional collapse, as I know I would be in the face of such catastrophe, last night. He’s still out there, still going, doing what he can. He looks ready to burst into tears at any moment. I can’t understand how he holds up under such circumstances. I know I wouldn’t.

We’ve had aerial footage, and now we’re gettting what could be first looked like satellite shots, but no, must be from a helicopter flying at a relatively high altitude. Like all the photos and footage out there, this footage is simply horrific. Entire mountainsides have collapsed.

Now we have a PLA soldier with his arm in a sling looking to be in pain on top of a mound of rubble still helping direct rescue efforts.

One thing I have never doubted is PLA soldiers’ dedication to their jobs, dedication to service to their nation. It ain’t always a good thing, but in a time like this, it can only be good and goes way beyond awe-inspiring.

Well, the laowai blogosphere, Chengdu division, seems to have escaped almost miraculously unscathed. kmm at Barking at the Sun (click on the word ‘division’ above) has done a pretty damn good job of collecting up other laowai first hand accounts. John at Green Bamboo (click on ‘Chengdu’) is surviving just as I would’ve expected him to, and is providing pretty decent coverage, too. Check them both out for good eye-witness accounts.

I missed what city/town they’re now broadcasting- oh, Dujiangyan- the damage is overwhelming. It looks like the whole city will need rebuilding.

Just moved on to Mianzhu where it looks like pretty much everybody is living in tents.

I don’t know why, but I guess for a variety of reasons, like this is the country I have adopted as my second home, the country of my wife and her family (who are all, blessedly in our case, safely up north) and many others I love, or because I, having been born and raised in Wellington, New Zealand, grew up with earthquakes and the stories of historic earthquakes and therefore know through first hand experience, the words of my elders, and the meeting of the two in a reasonably intelligent brain, just what an earthquake is and what it can do, or all of the above, but this disaster, I have to admit, has hit me harder than Nargis or last winter’s snows.

I certainly don’t mean to detract from or belittle either disaster or its victims.

There’s something about weather you can prepare for (and Wellington is infamous for its weather, so trust me, I’ve seen storms as bad as the earthquakes I’ve experienced, and the same goes for the words of my elders), but earthquakes just strike out of the blue.

lzh last night mentioned that many have said there were plenty of warning signs, omens, if you will, of an impending quake. I’m pretty strict on the “We listen to science, not rumour or superstition” thing in this house, but having plenty of experience and first-hand knowledge of earthquakes, I came down pretty hard on the “Yeah, sure, afterwards everybody says there was this or that omen, but nobody ever says that before the quake. Earthquakes are not volcanoes; they do not give out warnings. It’s that simple.”

The news from Myanmar only gets worse and worse, to the point where it hardly seems worth praying or wishing the best for the people caught in between an army, a cyclone, disease, and the possibility of a new storm. Sorry folks, but that one is too far beyond my scope of tragedy for me to cope with.

The news from Sichuan is not getting any better, and likely won’t for several weeks, but it is news I can compute.

I have to end this post. I’ve missed too much to figure out exactly what is being broadcast right now. Let’s just say that as far as I can tell, the government is going all out, has pulled out all stops, to get aid, relief and rescue into all affected areas. The pictures online and the footage I’m seeing on TV are simply horrific, but real heroes are in there putting in a superhuman effort.

I think I just saw footage shot from a helicopter showing a river forced to change course by a landslide.

All my hopes and prayers are with those caught in the disaster and those doing what they can to rescue the survivors.

Be safe, everybody, please.