Traveling the World

At 7:49AM local China time, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the Western province of Qinghai, a province which is nestled between Xinjiang (Muslim riots February 2009), Sichuan (massive earthquake June 2008), and Tibet (D.Lama). If we thought that China was doing better, we thought wrong. It seems that something must happen to China at least once a year, be it a natural or man-made disaster. I guess it’s fair to say that since the country is so large, covers so many timezones, and has so many people, that these things are bound to happen, but every time it does happen, it leaves us feeling worse than before.

It’s never fair for innocent people to die, and in this situation there’s no one to blame, which makes it harder. The current death toll is about 700, however in this small remote town of 100,000 people, no one will be sure until they begin to give up hope that survivors will be found. It raises the argument that the quality of life for people around the country is completely unequal, and that a standard code for buildings should be introduced so that those buildings unable to withstand natural disasters should be torn down and rebuilt, or at least be reinforced with steel.

I hate the feeling of being unable to do anything to help, and so it’s my intent to find out if I can go there during the May 1st holiday to assist the Red Cross, however I doubt they’d let a single person like myself go there as I might only add to the confusion. You might say that waiting 2 weeks will yield no result, however with Sichuan earthquake, they were out looking for a month and are still rebuilding two years on.

I beg you to donate money to the HK Red Cross so their efforts can be increased. They’ve already collected over 200,000 HKD (about $27,000) and need your donations badly, as the epicenter is located over a very remote town and it takes time to get people out there to help.