“I just thought it was really windy!”

“I felt dizzy, then strange.”
“Did you hear there was an earthquake?”
“My wife’s office got evacuated.”

All of the above were reactions that I heard on Monday, May 12 within a couple of hours of the earthquake. I personally didn't feel anything, but Shanghai did feel the aftershocks and if I had been teaching that afternoon, the building was evacuated because it was swaying by about a foot. From what I heard if you were above the 10th floor at the time you could feel it, if not, you couldn't. I was taking my Chinese classes on the first floor of a building, so my reaction was, “Really?”

I kind of feel like I missed the big event, but am glad at the same time. There were no deaths in Shanghai, but at this point over 30,000 people are dead, over 200,000 are injured and another 10,000 are reported missing in Sichuan. A quake of 7.9 (it was initially reported as 7.8) is huge. The news is full of pictures and some of them are truly horrific. China has just declared three national days of mourning for the dead beginning tomorrow. During these days the Olympic torch relay is going to be postponed, there will be moments of silence and other events. The television is full of fundraising programs for the victims. There are already two separate competing songs for the tragedy that are being shown constantly on television and red donation boxes are sprouting up everywhere, including in my apartment complex.

Watching a country reunite in the face of a tragedy is something unique. It also causes me to marvel at the power of the government over the media. Sometimes the same program is playing on five or six channels simultaneously. Freedom is relative here.

Question – What tragedy do you remember witnessing? What questions did you want to ask at the time? How did your community react to the tragedy?

Thank you for the emails, comments and kind words after the deaths of my grandparents. I appreciate and am comforted by your concern and prayers.

G