news from China

By now I assume most of you have heard about the devastating earthquake that struck Sichuan Province, China on Monday. And probably most of you know that I spent 3 months in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan and around 60 miles away from the epicenter of the quake. So it seems obvious that I would be following/interested in this event, but at the same time I really don’t have anything to add to the chorus of much more informed people and eyewitness accounts. In fact I don’t really know what to say in the face of rather mind-numbing statistics like 15,000 dead (almost half the population of my college town). I mean I could try to put together some links or write about how odd/sad it is to hear place names that I have connections too in the news, but instead I am just going to give you one link. NPR had a small news team already in Chengdu before the earthquake doing a special on the city and surrounding region, so obviously they were there witnessing it all when the earthquake started. And in typical NPR fashion they are providing pictures/posts and articles that cut through the incomprehensible numbers and statistics to tell stories that truly capture this kind of tragedy. This story from their blog tells of parents searching for their son in the town of Dujiangyan, a town I visited almost 3 years ago. Go read it now.