WERE ALIVE. WE LOVE YOU ALL, TOO.

Where were we for the big Earth Quake in SiQuan?( http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080513/ap_on_re_as/china_earthquake )

I had just gotten back from making colored copies at Kinkos.... many many many many miles away from the quake. My chinese tutor said people flooded the streets in their business attire. Her friend was among the evacuees who had to foot it down all those stairs; she was lucky to only be on the 35th floor. Many workers in these tall buildings felt dramatic swaying, and sufered migrane-type headaches here in Shanghai.

It was sizable: 7.9 on the Richter scale. Chengdu has a population of 11 million, and currently 12,000 are dead, and 18,000 missing. The last earthquake in China was in the 70's and wiped out an entire county-- totalling 20,000 lives. This one was comparable on the Richter scale, death toll still to be estimated.

To quote Morgan and Tim's Blog (who also live in Shanghai):
"One of the saddest stories we've seen so far is about a school that collapsed that has trapped 900 students. In a country that has a one-child policy, that is 900 families whose futures are trapped in that collapsed school. This was one of the first stories that we've read, but we haven't seen any updates on it, yet."

I didn't know about it until I got to the Aquarium, an hour later. I met up with Tim and Morgan at the Shanghai Aquarium with their kids, and there was a huge swarm of people around them. Her girls, same age as my boys, were posing for pictures with a tourist group of chinese people. It is common when in touristy areas for people to politely ask to take a picture with you or your kids (Shanghai is only 1% foreigners, so they are thrilled to see you, and even more thrilled to take a picture with you. Sometimes they will sneak a shot of you). The group informed her of the happenings, and she passed it on to me.

We are safe and sound. However, I do believe the food storage committee at church is going to be busy with a sudden spurt of demand here in Shanghai!