i just read that in china parents were outside a primary school where 200 children were buried and the authorities had posted a sign for them to look at the morgue for their children ...Also in other area were in the mountains were the rescue teams rich the place for another school ( 500 children?s ! )...and one of them describe the situation..saying " we heard many children?s voices crying at night coming from the under ruins ...but in the morning we didn?t hear anything...all dead !! " ?. how incredible sad and devastating. ?It seems so far away and distant to our lives - yet tonight I will pray for those families and children - as a father myself of 3 children I cannot imagine how awful it must be for them. ?I need to be far more grateful for what I have.....

it is the worst thing happens in this year... sorry for those family ... I wish you and your kids have time to spend together and live happily. I can't answer how sad but it is very sad.

A sober reminder to live and love life in this moment, and every moment, and really apppreciate all that we have and experience now.

poor people

sad they have to pay the price for corrupted contractors who doesn t build the buildings according to standarts defined by architects and engineers

then everything collapse like a sand castle

To erictaymans:its true theress dozens of corrupted contractors in china, but even in shanghai , all the buildings r built on the standard of resistance to 7th degree earthquake, so the collapse of the houses in Sichuan has not much to do with the contractor but the power of earthquake!!!

as a chinese myself i feel very sad our people r suffering from this disaster, and also sad that some people still will make stupid comments on this subject

bkk_maniac, i had heard a report on the bbc a couple of nights ago that in some areas schools collapsed while other buildings immediately surrounding them suffered far less damage, leading even local chinese people to suspect or believe corruption/substandard contracting was a factor. and they were damn angry about it.

i doubt you're in any position to know for sure whether standards were adhered to in building these schools or not.

It's terribly sad. I can't watch the news without sobbing, seeing those poor parents realizing that it's their (only) child that has just been brought out of the ruins.

if you read this, make you sad, to, it really hurt me to, if you are parrants and lost child what you feel then, the same,

I agree the Chinese earthquake is an massive disaster. It make me sad to see the loss of life and destruction on such a grand scale. But the Chinese government seem to be doing all it can to limit the death toll, by providing manpower and aid for the effect population. The same cant be said for the Burmese Government

From the AP: New buildings in Beijing ? like the signature "Bird's Nest" National Stadium for this August's Olympics ? are built to exacting codes to withstand earthquakes. But "anti-earthquake standards are not as strict in places like Sichuan as in Shanghai," said Ren Bing, an architectural designer at Hong Kong-based China Construction International Co.

Corruption, unconscientious work , cheap materials...

That's why so many schools were collapsed by the shock of the earthquake.

I think it was not only a natural disaster but the worst man-made disaster in China.

Hopefully this forces them to build better buildings and stop cutting corners.

i cant deny that we have lots of corrupted companies, officials,contractors,even government in china

but i totally disagree that this Earthquake is a""" man-made disaster""", what kind of bullshit is this????

i can tell u right now in china, i feel no anger among us, we only feel grief for those who died and lost their family, and we feel very grateful to our government for being so efficient so far in rescusing the people.

i noticed that lots of western government ,media or people love to criticize on our government, i thank all of u for paying so much attention to us and giving" suggestions" , but right now, while people r still bleeding, crying,looking for their family members here , please save ur speech on how to improve corruption,but to at least show some sympathy

it's not just corruption and unconscientious work, many of the buildings in Beijing, let alone the provinces, were built quite a while ago. quite possibly many of these predate 'earthquake-proofing."

I think all of us feel sympathy for the victims of this tragedy. You don't have to be Chinese to feel sorrow over this.

You say no one where you are feels anger. But are you in an area devastated by the earthquake?

In many of the reports I'm reading, there are plenty of Chinese people in the affected areas who are very angry at the lack of help they are receiving from the government. So it's not just Western governments, media or people who are criticizing your government. Or do you believe all those news agencies from all those countries are making it all up?

Now, whether the lack of help is because of incompetence or neglect on the part of the government and those peoples' feelings are justified, or whether no one could do more than is already being done, I just don't know.

But if lives were needlessly lost because of corruption or incompetence, I don't see any need to remain silent so the feelings of those responsible - or those who just don't like any criticism of their country - can be spared.

When New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Americans and Western media and people did not hesitate to raise questions about why the dykes had not been repaired and criticize the government for its terribly poor response.

So I think you're really off base in portraying this as China bashing.

Earthquakes in China will happen again. No one can prevent them. But what can be prevented is corrupt or greedy practices on the part of some that contributes or causes more loss of lives than necessary in the future.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give you a hard time. But I don't think What I said is BS.

A 7.8 in sichuan kills 50,000, but in kobe or LA the deaths would be much smaller because of the construction quality. That's why I said it was a sort of man-made disaster. Sorry if you feel very bad, but can you see my point?

I feel very very sad for victims. I have been watching TV news everyday here in HK. Sadly, I can't do anything but open my heart and my wallet for victims in China.

I wondering, where's next?

to Loburt: no im not in the area devastaed by the earthquak, but my father`s side is from Sichuan,we have plenty of relatives and friends living there, some we already got in touch , few that we havnt

yes i have read the same reports on how people were feeling angry when they see no sign of resue team after being under the ashes for more than 72 hours, but as soon as they r digged out and saw the high ways, railways, bridges, roads blocked by rocks or damaged , they understoodwhy it took the rescue team so long , so i can tell you its not because the neglect or lack of help from government

yes, there are lots of questions need to be raised on the "why"S and"if"s to our government ,and during the past events like SARS or Tibet problems, theres cover ups or inefficiency

and yes i do agree with you that lots need to be done here to prevent future disasters, but right now the hard works being done to save lifes and rebuild by our government, i have never been more proud of our people ,government,soldiers, they r really doing all they can to help

On Friday evening, it emerged that Li Changchun, the Communist Party?s propaganda chief, paid a visit to the state-run media outlets, Xinhua and CCTV.

?The ideological front line of propaganda must deeply and widely publicise the series of important earthquake disaster relief decisions and measures of the central party committee and the state council," he was quoted as saying, before urging the organisations to seek out the "moving stories" of the army in their rescue efforts, and of the work of party committees and local governments.

Hong Kong University?s Chinese Media Project (CMP) blog reported that the Communist Party?s Central Propaganda Department had issued ?numerous? directives to the Chinese media, warning them against ?critical reporting?.

Quoted from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3957157.ece

There can surely be no pain greater for a parent than the loss of a child particulalry if to a degree it may have been prevented. Words cannot be found to even imagine how devastating to whole communities the scale is of so many schools collasping and killing thousands of children.

Let's hope there is some true accountability after this beyond the staged hanging trials of a few corrupt officials . I agree with the need for transparency and openness post the emergency phase to ensure prevention elsewhere if greed and reckless neglect contributed to this disaster.

"yes i have read the same reports on how people were feeling angry when they see no sign of resue team after being under the ashes for more than 72 hours, but as soon as they r digged out and saw the high ways, railways, bridges, roads blocked by rocks or damaged , they understoodwhy it took the rescue team so long , so i can tell you its not because the neglect or lack of help from government"

that doesn't match up with what i read. and it also doesn't make sense.

if they were only angry while buried, then ask yourself, how were they interviewed and were able to express their anger while they were still buried? and if they immediately realized the situation when they were dug out and weren't angry, then who were all those angry people being quoted in news reports?

yes, i'm sure there are many heroes, especially among average people who are helping others.

about the government and its soldiers, i can't really say, as there appear to be some chinese who are suffering and angry at them over the situation, despite the directives from the communist party's propaganda chief.

now imagine this happen in Thailand with PM Samak is taking charge.................. Brrrrrrr!

ummm . . . . believe it or not BUT there's a theory that the spate of quakes worldwide are man-made. They theory is that we are pumping up all the oil and gas from under the ground, which normally acts as a cushion in various stratas and parts of the world. So with these resources being pumped out, there's a vacuum and the plates have huge gaps. This maybe a plausible theory coz why would the U.K. and the midwest US have quakes.

Hmmm . . . . food for thought !!