The Earth Still Quakes
Trip Start
Feb 03, 2008
1
9
33
Trip End
Aug 16, 2009
Zunyi, China,
China
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
The number is unknown but it's from a student in my high school class. I need to wake up anyway, but I think in annoyance that I had given those students explicit instructions not to contact me in the morning or late at night.
His message is strange, and it's not his English that is the problem.
"My phone isn't work. Last night was exciting!"
I get up, take a shower. Later, as Dan and I are leaving the house to meet Dan's mother, visiting from Australia, I reply to the text. "Hi Nick, What happened last night?"
His reply is fast, less than a minute.
"Oh my god! You don't know? Last night TV said there is more earthquake. We sleep outside on the playground."
Dan and I are in a taxi by this point, and I notice a strange amount of young children running around on the streets for a Tuesday morning.
"No, I didn't know." I tell my student.
He messages again. "TV say today there is another earthquake. Big risk. I will tell you."
"Thanks," I write back, still confused.
The day Nick messaged me Dan and I had been back in China for less than a week
Deserted streets
. We had missed the infamous day in this nation's contemporary times, the May 12 earthquake. We were in Australia, getting ready to come back to China. We were far away, and only fed information by the Australian TV. The TV station alarmed us: Their bulletins gave scant information as to the exact location of the magnitude 7 to 8 earthquake, saying only "Southwest China"
"Hell," I thought. "That's where we live." The news report's map image scared us even more, showing a map of China with a huge target radiating across the whole country. From the map, it seemed everything west of Xi'an and south of Mongolia had been thwacked with an arrow of devastation.
Later, we hear that it was in Sichuan province, which neighbors us to the north. We heard that it's north of Chengdu, which is about seven hours by train from Zunyi. The tremors derailed a train in Gansu province, north of Sichuan. Ah, we're okay, we thought.
In Australia, Dan's mom heard the news and wondered if she should cancel her trip to come back and visit us in China. We called our supervisor, Nathan, on vacation near Shanghai, and he said everything should be okay.
We calmed Dan's mom somewhat, and came back to China.
We were right, our town wasn't harmed by the earthquake. No buildings had fallen down in small Zunyi, no schools had collapsed no villages had been at risk of flooding. But the earthquake isn't really over, even now.
Literally thousands of aftershocks have rocked the already-ravaged areas in Sichuan province
Candlelight
. Some of the following tremors are of a magnitude large enough to be earthquakes in their own right, measuring up to six on the Richter scale. The Chinese media suspend regular programs, music and drama, and put coverage of the quake on priority, 24-7. It's 9-11 for China, but their terrorist is Mother Earth. People are panicked, rushing to donate money or time to the injured and bereft in Sichuan, and also worried about their own homes and offices. Will the next aftershock reach us?
When we get back to Zunyi from Australia I asked my students and coworkers what they were doing when the three-minute quake shook our city. Belinda was in the hair salon, and ran out to the street with her hair still wet, wondering what was happening.
Alicia was taking a nap on her couch. She grabbed her dog and went outside, thinking there was a problem with her apartment block.
Louis was in a meeting, he and his coworkers were on the third floor and walked downstairs.
Some of my high school students were outside playing sports. A few of them didn't even realize the earth shook.
Other students were taking a test. Their teacher told them to stay put.
One of the most heart-wrenching stories to come out of the earthquake is the one that first reached us when we were in Australia, trying to grasp what had happened at home. A school dormitory in Sichuan province crumbled, burying nearly a thousand high school students and their teachers during the lunch break, when many students would have been napping.
I think it's because of this story that my students, and a lot of the residents of Zunyi, spent a few nights sleeping outside of their death-trap dormitories or suspect homes.
We walked through the increasingly crowded streets that afternoon to buy a pair of sandals for Dan's mom in an outdoor store
Candles couple
. There are seven people buying tents in this usually deserted shop. "Tents?" I wonder. "Why the sudden interest in camping?"Nick's messages on May 20th continued. We were sitting down to a meal in Zunyi's one steak restaurant when his next one arrived.
"The TV says between 1 and 3 p.m. there is a risk of a big aftershock. Go outside!"
It's 12:45 now. We finish our steaks and go find a park to play cards in.
We take a taxi to the park, and find ourselves in a traffic jam inching through streets we usually whiz along. Everyone, it seems, has the same idea. Families with small children ride bicycles, fly kites, pitch tents in the park.
The schools had decided, whether because of the threat or the parents, to cancel classes for one day. Later we hear that schools were canceled and families fled to the open countryside and parks all over this region.
In the shade of the small park near our home tents are set up, hammocks are slung between trees. The day wears on and we see whole families on blankets, picnicking and laughing, but everyone waiting outside for the threat to be over.
The aftershocks come, but we don't feel them here.
My students later tell me they were frightened but excited to spend the night outside. Many of them did it two nights in a row, huddled on the sports field. Lots of my students had never been camping before.
My high school student AJ says she was sleeping inside, but her friends told her "If you want your life, you come!" so she went outside too
candles
. Their teacher told them they were crazy, but let them stay out, even though their dormitory's rules are usually strict.Meanwhile the coverage of the earthquake continues on all the stations--we can only find one radio station with music sometimes--and people turn their attention to the fiscal side of the earthquake.
"How much have you donated?" a few students ask me bluntly.
"Why hasn't the US sent more aid?" a coworker inquires.
Basketball star Yao Ming is criticized for not giving enough. The mayor of Zunyi has supposedly only contributed 200 RMB, while a crippled beggar has scrounged up 300 RMB and given it to the Red Cross. Meanwhile the English TV channel runs a ticker at the bottom, "TENTS URGENTLY NEEDED FOR HOMELESS." The Spanish government sent a few. The Saudi Arabian government sent hundreds.
I ask my students where the money goes. "How does it help the victims?" I ask. They don't know. "It helps them," they say proudly.
Our boss drives up to Sichuan to see if he can help but is sent back a few days later, told the soldiers are doing the work.
The country is united, all hearts are with the people of Sichuan.
"When do the experts say the the aftershocks will finish?" I ask my students. "How long do you think the people in China will continue giving so wholeheartedly?"
The earthquake should finish by August 8, one student quipped. That's when the Olympics start.
