Sichuan Earthquake
May 15th, 2008
I do not usually react to global disasters here—there are, alas, so many, and usually I have little to offer beyond banal expressions of sympathy, outrage, angst . . .
The tragic earthquake in Sichuan hits close to home, though. I have traveled some in Sichuan, a magnificent province that is larger in population than any European country. It has some of China’s most magnificent scenery. I love the food, the people . . .
The NPR program All Things Considered (one of my main daily news sources) coincidentally had some of its best journalists in Sichuan at the time of the quake. The reports they’ve been filing have made me cry daily.
In contrast to the hideous reactions of the regime in Burma, Chinese authorities are apparently doing a fairly commendable job in rescue and relief work (maybe our own way-to-go-Brownie should have studied in China before Katrina). For those of us far away it is not clear how much if anything we can do to help, but people on the ABA China section email list have rounded up the following links of places where one can contribute to relief. How sad that this seems to be all one can do, and how sad that, as disasters go, this one, though so unspeakably tragic, apparently will have a much lower death toll than some other recent examples.
Also, the National Committee on US-China Relations has set up a web page with links to organizations collecting donations:
October 27th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
It’s very appalling