Sunday, May 25, 2008

#82 China Earthquake

We have received many emails and phone calls of concern from our friends and family in the U.S. about the central China earthquake. First of all, we are all fine and suffered no ill effects in Suzhou from the earthquake. In fact, there is no one is Suzhou that I know who even felt a tremor.

On the other hand, many cities and towns in Sichuan province to the south and west of here are an absolute disaster. According to the Chinese Xinhua news agency, there are 60,000 dead and 350,000 injured from the 7.8 magnitude quake that hit on May-12th.

The pictures above from the Xinhua news service are just a couple examples of the damage done. The first is an aerial picture of Yingxiu city and second a rescue effort in Guizhou province.

I would encourage each of you to please punch up the International Red Cross and make a donation to the relief effort. The Chinese are welcoming international efforts to help and the American Red Cross is working with its partners to assist those affected by this disaster. You can do as we did and make an online contribution to the effort at the Red Cross.

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