China stood still and sirens wailed yesterday to mourn tens of thousands of earthquake victims in the country’s deadliest natural disaster in a generation.
Construction workers, shopkeepers and bureaucrats across the nation paused for three minutes of tribute at 2:28pm — exactly one week after the magnitude 8.0 quake hit central China. Air-raid sirens and the horns of cars and buses sounded in memory of the dead — expected to surpass 50,000.
Rescuers also briefly halted work in the disaster zone, where the hunt for survivors turned glum despite remarkable survival tales among thousands buried. Two women were rescued yesterday after being trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building at a coal mine in Sichuan Province, where the quake was centered, the Xinhua news agency reported.
In an indication of the challenge in dealing with millions of homeless and injured survivors, China said it would accept foreign medical teams and issued an international appeal for tents.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (秦剛) said in a statement that tents were a priority “because many houses were toppled in the quake and because it is the rainy season.”
In the quake area, more than 200 relief workers were buried over the past three days by mudslides while working to repair roads in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.
An official confirmed there had been mudslides causing some deaths but gave no details.
“The total death toll is still being counted,” said the official at the Sichuan provincial Communications Department who only gave his last name, Shi.
More landslides were predicted by the Central Meteorological Observatory, with heavy rains forecast this week for some areas close to the epicenter.
The military was still struggling to reach areas cut off by the earthquake, with more than 10,000 people discovered stranded in Yinxiui valley near the epicenter, China National Radio said yesterday.
There was no information on casualties there, and 600 soldiers were hiking into the area.
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 34,073, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, said yesterday. Officials have said they expect the dead to number more than 50,000, while 245,108 people remained injured.
Quake-related losses to companies totaled 67 billion yuan (US$9.5 billion), Deputy Industry Minister Xi Guohua (奚國華) said yesterday.
During three days of national mourning ordered by the government, flags were to fly at half-staff and entertainment events were canceled — an unprecedented outpouring of state sympathy on a level normally reserved for dead leaders.
The Olympic torch relay, a potent symbol of national pride in the countdown to August’s much-anticipated Beijing games, was suspended.
China’s newspapers and Internet news portals went black as well, banishing colorful headlines.
The Beijing Morning Post ran an entirely black front page apart from the headline: “China in Tears,” followed by the confirmed official death toll of 32,476, and banned color photographs from yesterday’s edition.
The People’s Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, jettisoned its trademark bright red masthead, running a front page in black and white set off by a photograph in color showing China’s President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤)comforting a child in tears.
The Beijing Times was also in black, with the front page showing a photograph of a candle with the caption “Day of Mourning,” followed by the death toll.
Beijing Television said it planned to shelve all programming other than quake coverage over the mourning.
Rescuers in Beichuan, who had been working since the morning to reach a victim whose ear was visible, also paused yesterday during the moment of tribute.
A convoy of police cars, ambulances and other rescue vehicles let off a long blast from their horns as the workers in orange jumpsuits stood quietly with eyes downcast, some removing their white hardhats.
In Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, thousands of people bowed their heads and then began shouting “Long Live China!” while thrusting their fists in the air. Traffic on the capital’s highways and roads stopped. Some drivers got out of their cars while others blared their horns.
Chinese President Hu and other top Communist Party leaders were shown on state TV bowing their heads, white flowers pinned to the lapels of their dark suits. Hu had spent three days touring the worst-hit areas of Sichuan.
Trade on China’s stock and commodities exchanges was also suspended for the three-minute period of silence, the Securities Regulatory Commission said.
The government ordered all Internet entertainment and game sites to be taken off9line for the mourning period and users redirected to sites dedicated to quake victims, the Chinese news Web portal sina.com said.
China’s National Grand Theater will cancel or postpone all performances during the three days, and media reports said bars, nightclubs, karaoke parlors and movie theaters closed at midnight on Sunday in major cities.
In Dujiangyan, three local government officials were fired for dereliction of duty over the earthquake — the first officials punished, Xinhua reported.
Also See: Chinese quake overshadows Olympics preparations
Also See: Did all those children have to die?
Also See: Quake expected to trim growth
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique