主题：【讨论转载】在成都老外（？）的报导 -- 颜子

This has been my first opportunity to get online since the Earthquake hit yesterday. All is fine with my family, but this event has really shaken up my wife, who briefly hid under the table of our condo with my new-born son, then ran out the building, down the street to fetch my older son Nathaniel at the Kindergarten; finally, wisely fleeing by taxi to a suburban area where grandma and grandpa live.

At the time, I was in Guanghan, at the Civil Aviation University, 40 km north of Chengdu and closer to the epicenter. It was a surreal and terrifying experience. I've been in a tornado and felt the helplessness when pitted against mother nature. But, you can hide from a tornado down in a basement.

There is really no escaping an Earthquake. I was just about to begin class on the 4th floor when we felt a shockwave rumble the building. We thought maybe a plane crashed or there was an explosion nearby. But then the building heaved. As we hustled down the hallways and down the stairs, the sensation was the same one you get when you take off in an airplane; with that sudden weightlessness and then the dip of the plane. Cement was flying and so was glass. Very fortunately, the building did not crumble down upon us. I can still envision one extremely hard hit and I thought the end was coming. The building rumbled so loud, it seemed to be coming down. In that instant, I spied the window of the 3rd floor staircase and made my plan. Then the rumble slowed. Everyone made it out safely.

All in all, we were extremely lucky.

More than 12,000 people, at last count and rising quickly, have died in the villages and towns Northwest of Chengdu. I have seen the destruction and in some cases it is complete destruction. Homes, hotels, hospitals, schools and apartment buildings have crumbled with people in them.

News is still trickling in and we still haven't seen the worst of it yet. Of this, I am sure because I have been up in those hills in Aba many, many times and I know that the construction up there could not withstand the hit we took in Guanghan; and we were 50km from the epicenter.

The country is helping as best it can. The Army is up there already and the local businesses in Chengdu have already started supplying aid. The Chinese people really pull together when these things happen. That is something one can see quite evidently.

Calm has pretty much been restored to Chengdu now and people have for the most part, made their way back to their homes. Some holdouts are still taking shelter where they can outside.

But now the problem is the rain. If you can picture a mountainside road, barely two lanes across and just enough to squeeze through a couple vehicles either way in the best of times. And then picture half the mountain tumbling down across it and burying it for hundreds of meters and about 15-20 feet high; then you can picture the monumental task facing emergency crews to get to the hard hit areas. You can only fit one excavator at a time on that narrow roadbelt, to start digging through the debris and there are dozens of huge rock-slides like that all the way up the winding road to Wenchuan, Aba from DuJiangYan.

Airlift is the best way to get in right now. The death toll in Chengdu has climbed from early low reports of 45 people, to now over 1,000. Mianyang; Sichuan's number 2 city has lost over 7,000; Deyang over 2,000. There are reports of an entire village just North of Wenchuan having diappeared. And no one has heard from the Panda base at Wolong yet. There are 130 Pandas out there and more in the wild. Let's hope they faired well.

I pity the crews out there working in this heavy rain tonight. The human toll; let alone the emotional toll on the aid workers and victims will certainly be staggering.

Today, I have returned home to my place inside Chengdu's 1st Ring Road. Most shops are open today for business. Even my Suzuki dealership was open today and lucky for that because my radiator was pooched. There is some panic-buying going on of staple goods (especially bottled water) and most of the chain stores and supermarket shelves are becoming bare in the "drinkables" sections. Traffic is snarled outside the 2nd Ring Road as those people who slept in their cars for the past 2 nights are now returning to their homes.

Whether rumor-mongering or not; the locals believe that throughout history, disease breaks out after a natural disaster of this magnitude. People fear for the safety of the water and for the unidentified strains of bacteria and/or viruses that may spread from such a disaster. I think that is a reasonable reaction and that some basic precautions should be taken by the people in the area.

An open feeling of grief and sadness is in the air. Normally happy-go-lucky Sichuanese have truly felt the weight of the human toll in the countryside nearby the city. Many Chengdu people send their kids to countryside schools, especially in the hard-hit city of DuJiangYan; a popular weekend getaway town for city dwellers due to its natural beauty and mountain scenery. Indeed it is one of Sichuan's 5 UNESCO World Natural Heritage designated sites; three of which were hit hard by the quake; including the Natural Panda Habitat and the country's number one tourist draw; Jiuzai Valley.

Many foreigners in Chengdu, as well as from within the rest of China and other countries have offered to assist in the rescue and aid effort. Even with my relatively inside connections in the area; having been involved in aid projects in Mao Xian county, just a few kilometres north of the epicenter; it is not feasible to allow foreign aid workers in on the ground at this time. The security situation, as we all know, must be controlled. China places a heavy emphasis on protecting foreign visitors; and yes, some may feel it is rather restrictive in nature; but that's the way it is. Local officials do not want to be held responsible for the safety of a group of foreigners in their area. For the Chinese, that is a heavy responsibility, believe it or not. Special preparations would have to be made to accommodate any foreign relief effort and because time is of the essence, it is best to let the Chinese get on with the task at hand.

They have indeed been quick to the scene. Given the terrain and the topography of the area; a faster response is all conjecture and hindsight. When there is an emergency; one huge advantage China has is man-power. And the rescue effort has thrown alot of man-power into the situation. That is why the best way for foreigners and foreign countries to assist is in monetary or hard-goods contributions. Once the area has been stabilized, there will be plenty of aid and relief opportunities for foreigners and foreign aid groups. There always has been in those relatively poor regions of Western Sichuan.

So, let's be patient and not be insulted or take offense. Chinese people do appreciate assistance given by foreigners. Of that, and from my 10 years of experience in this region, I have no doubt.

Anyone with a plan or requiring advice as to the best way they may contribute once the dust has settled, may feel free to contact me by PM. For now, I suggest donations to the major charities, such as the Red Cross.