The quake leveled buildings, left some towns such as Beichuan almost completed deserted. While some cities were completely wrap off the map because almost all of its building and infrastructures were completely destroyed.

More then 35,000 people were killed including many children. More then 9,509 people were buried and 29,418 missing in Sichuan province.

As a result, the Chinese government quickly lunched an all out rescue effort in an attempt to save those who were still alive and were buried under the debris.

Below are more information about the quake as of Monday May 19, 2008:

• 220,109 injured
• 145 aftershocks above level 4, 23 above level 5, biggest 6.1
• 34,000 medical staff in quake zone
• 181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts despatched
• 6bn Chinese Yuan ($860m, £440m) received in donations, from China and abroad

Immediately after the quake, the Red Cross of China mobilizes relief efforts for this disaster and formed a disaster relief group dispatched to the earthquake-stricken Wenchuan County in Sichuan.

Here is a quote from the Red Cross Website:

“The RCSC immediately mobilized its staff and volunteers, as well as relief supplies, such as tents, quilts and other materials. Already, volunteers and staff from the RCSC have been distributing food, water and tents to people in the affected area. Assessment teams are on the ground to determine the extent of the damage.”

You Can Help

For those of you who wish to contribute to the relief effort, you can donate money to the Red Cross of China or to the Natural Disaster Fund of the Red Cross in America.

You can also contribute to the emergency relief hotline published by the Red Cross of China. Included are the bank account information to receive donations to assist in the relief efforts (NOTE: Due to the limitation of WordPress, Chinese characters cannot be display. Instead, question marks are shown. To see the Chinese writings, you can go to Shanghaiist.):

Account name: Red Cross Society of China
?????????????

For those who want to donate in RMB: you can send money to the RMB account at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China branch below:
??????: ?????? ?????????
?????: 0200001009014413252

For those who want to donate in foreign currency, you can send money to the foreign currency account at the CITIC Bank branch below:
???????????????
????: 7112111482600000209

Hotline: (8610) 65139999
Online donations: Red Cross Society of China website: www.redcross.org.cn
Click the tab for online donations

Sources: Shanghaiist, BBC News

Drivers Fined For Driving Slow and Taking Pictures

Would you risk getting a ticket for driving slowly just so you could get a chance to enjoy the ocean view and take some pictures?

People in Hangzhou Bay located in the booming province of Zhejiang, China is willing to take the risk. Local media reported that since May 1, more then 300 drivers have been fined by police for driving slowly or illegal parking in the emergency lane.

“I just wanted to drive a bit slowly and enjoy the sea breeze. Is that wrong?” quoted an unnamed driver complaining of getting the ticket for driving too slow.

So what is causing so many people to slow down and get fined? The answer is the world’s longest cross-sea bridge that was just opened last week. The $1.7 billion bridge that spans 22.4 mile stretching from the port city of Ningbo to the financial hub city of Shanghai cutting the travel time from four hours to two and a half. The bridge spans the whole of Hangzhou Bay.

The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is designed in such a way to ensure traffic jam on the bridge is nearly impossible under normal driving condition but that theory is proven wrong. The engineers never consider drivers might slow down or even park their car illegally to take some pictures and enjoy the beautiful view of the ocean.

Cars carrying the whole family eager to see the bridge and the beautiful view of the ocean caused serious traffic and major accidents.

Some people who were busted for illegal parking were so caught up in the moment of things that they even posed in front of the police cameras just so they could take pictures as souvenirs.

The bridge will not be fully open for another two years. If the traffic caused by people who wants to enjoy the view is bad now, just imagine what it will be like when it is fully opened.

(Pictures are from Yahoo)

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