DUJIANGYAN, China (AP) -- The toll of the dead and missing soared as rescue workers dug through flattened schools and homes on Tuesday in a desperate attempt to find survivors of China's worst earthquake in three decades.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of Monday's massive, 7.9-magnitude quake.

The Sichuan Daily newspaper reported on its Web site that more than 26,000 people were injured in Mianyang.

The numbers of casualties was expected to rise due to the remoteness of the areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.

There was little prospect that many survivors would be found under the rubble. Only 58 people were extricated from demolished buildings across the quake area so far, China Seismological Bureau spokesman Zhang Hongwei told Xinhua. In one county, 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed.

Rain was impeding efforts and a group of paratroopers called off a rescue mission to the epicenter due to heavy storms, Xinhua reported.

More than two dozen British and American tourists who were thought to be panda-watching in the area also remained missing.

Officials urged the public not to abandon hope.

"Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up," Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told reporters in Beijing.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed to the area to oversee rescue efforts, said a push was on to clear roads and restore electricity as soon as possible. His visit to the disaster scene was prominently featured on state TV, a gesture meant to reassure people that the ruling party was doing all it could.

"We will save the people," Wen said through a bullhorn to survivors as he toured the disaster scene, in footage shown on CCTV. "As long as the people are there, factories can be built into even better ones, and so can the towns and counties."

State media said rescue workers had reached the epicenter in Wenchuan county - where the number of casualties was still unknown. The quake was centered just north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu in central China, tearing into urban areas and mountain villages.

Earthquake rescue experts in orange jumpsuits extricated bloody survivors on stretchers from demolished buildings.

Some 20,000 soldiers and police arrived in the disaster area with 30,000 more on the way by plane, train, trucks and even on foot, the Defense Ministry told Xinhua.

Aftershocks rattled the region for a second day, sending people running into the streets in Chengdu. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the shocks between magnitude 4 and 6, some of the strongest since Monday's quake.

Zhou Chun, a 70-year-old retired mechanic, was leaving Dujiangyan with a soiled light blue blanket draped over his shoulders.

"My wife died in the quake. My house was destroyed," he said. "I am going to Chengdu, but I don't know where I'll live."

Zhou and other survivors were pulling luggage and clutching plastic bags of food amid a steady drizzle and the constant wall of ambulances.

Just east of the epicenter, 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school in Beichuan county - a six-story building reduced to a pile of rubble about two yards high, according to Xinhua. Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan alone.

At another leveled school in Dujiangyan, 900 students were feared dead. As bodies of teenagers were carried out on doors used as makeshift stretchers, relatives lit incense and candles and also set off fireworks to ward away evil spirits.

Elsewhere in Gansu province, a 40-car freight train derailed in the quake that included 13 gasoline tankers was still burning Tuesday, Xinhua said.

Gasoline lines grew in Chengdu and grocery stores shelves were almost empty. The Ministry of Health issued an appeal for blood donations to help the quake victims.

Fifteen missing British tourists were believed to have been in the area at the time of the quake and were "out of reach," Xinhua reported.

They were likely visiting the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to more than 100 giant pandas, whose fate also was not known, Xinhua said, adding that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe.

Another group of 12 Americans also on panda-watching tour sponsored by the U.S. office of the World Wildlife Fund remained out of contact Tuesday, said Tan Rui, WWF communications officer in China.

Two Chinese-Americans and a Thai tourist also were missing in Sichuan province, the agency said, citing tourism officials.

Expressions of sympathy and offers of help poured in from the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others.

The Dalai Lama, who has been vilified by Chinese authorities who blame him for recent unrest in Tibet, offered prayers for the victims. The epicenter is just south of some Tibetan mountain areas that saw anti-government protests earlier this year.

Beijing Games organizers said the Olympic torch relay will continue as planned through the quake-affected area next month.

The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid, and Russia was sending a plane with rescuers and supplies, the country's Interfax news agency reported.

But Wang, the disaster relief official, said international aid workers would not be allowed to travel to the affected area.

"We welcome funds and supplies; we can't accommodate personnel at this point," he said.

China's Ministry of Finance said it had allocated $123 million in aid for quake-hit areas.

The quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing in 1976. Financial analysts said the quake would have only a limited impact on the country's booming economy.

hello we are back after 12.5 hours.

Pikachu amusement toy at Whimsy,a super old amusement park that was established when i was young.few may remember that Thomson Plaza used to have one.

she became so obsessed in photography that every single thing that can reflect can be used as a medium for photos! but its a good obession!

nice to eat for the first few but after subsequence munching, its tasted a little sick.

weeeeeee its only the 2 of us for the day.

Japanese looking garden outside city link.

finally theres an underpass linking from citylink to suntec directly,no need cross the bridge that is packed with people distributing flyers.

this is so romantic.

our reward for the 1234567892345678 meters we walked.my ham 1/2 inch sandwich with extra bbq sauce with her ham 1/2 inch sandwich with extra mayo~

her hoot,that starbust squirts is so damn nice,hope cold storage has them because Cocoa Tree is like a vampire sucking money from customers.

we decided to have popcorns! we popped by Yishun's NTUC and got ourselves some seeds and honey before heading over to her house.the popcorn almost overflow,luckily theres about 1/4 of the seeds that decided not to pop out and we had to throw them all away.

theres our snack for Alvin and the Chipmunks

Golden Jubilee Visit to India

"In the past, there was just a president of the Commission to choose. But now the EU has greater ambitions. Its new treaty, currently going through its last ratification hurdles after interminable wrangling, calls for the selection of a president of the European Council. The post mixes the mundane, like chairing the meetings of the 27 heads of government, with the task of representing Europe globally. EU leaders have yet to define which is more important-making sure the agenda is ready, the pencils sharpened and the chairs in place for the council meeting, or being a bully-pulpit president of Europe who walks through the door at the White House, the Kremlin and the Forbidden City in Beijing and makes clear that the voice of Europe is important and heard around the world."

Read full story.

His achievements earned him Emory's highest student honor, the Marion Luther Brittain Award, presented each year at Emory's commencement to a graduate who has demonstrated exemplary service to both the university and the greater community without expectation of recognition. Candidates are required to demonstrate a strong character, meritorious service and sense of integrity. Ahmed will receive the award during commencement exercises.

"I was very surprised and humbled to receive such a great honor especially since many students at Emory are doing some impressive work to better the university, the surrounding Atlanta community and even the world," Ahmed says. "In every thing I've done, my main goal was always to engage other like-minded students at Emory. What motivates me is my desire to take on multiple challenges, especially undertakings that might be deemed too difficult."

<snip>

Ahmed founded Global Health, Education, Empowerment and Development ( HEED ) in 2006. The non-profit engages students from universities around the nation to work with local organizations and communities in developing nations to address issues related to health, education and economic development. The group's first major initiative will be to collaborate with a local non-profit in Guatemala to build a health clinic, school and implement a micro-credit initiative. Student are headed to Calhuitz, Guatemala, this summer to begin building facilities. Ahmed will donate the $5,000 that comes with the Brittain Award to the effort.

He will stay at Emory next year and continue his research full-time under Dr. Kirk at the Emory Transplant Center and travel to Guatemala throughout the year to implement HEED's various initiatives. He also plans to apply to joint programs in medicine, research and public health next year to earn a medical degree and a doctorate.

"I plan on working with Global HEED for the rest of my life and hope to expand to other developing nations, such as Pakistan and India," he says.

<snip>

The eldest son of Shahid and Nargis Ahmed of Wethersfield, Conn., Ahmed dedicates the Brittain Award and his success to his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Karachi, Pakistan.

"They have sacrificed a lot for me and have instilled many of the values and principles that I constantly strive to follow and uphold," Ahmed says. "They have always encouraged me to help others, work hard, never quit, be a kindhearted person and always challenge myself while encouraging me to pursue my own interests and desires. My work ethic stems directly from my parents. They are my role models and… I owe them everything."

Complete story at Source

USGS reported the quake to be of M7.9, 90 km WNW of Chengdu. The death toll has exceeded 8000 :(…. The epicenter is located at a scenic rural area 汶川, occupied mainly by ethnic minority groups. Six years ago, I travelled there and saw a lake which was formed after some earthquake (M7.5, 1933)-induced landslides blocked the local river channel. Extremely beautiful region and extremely friendly people.

Here’s an American exchange student’s description in English from Chengdu. Here’s a video taken by a student at Sichuan University. I can’t believe at the end of the clip the psyched dude was declaring the “absolute realness” of his video with such excitement (that made my laugh—people from my hometown all tend to be a bit “off”, but in an adorable way). My parents’ house is near their university’s back yard! They’re fine!!

Donate through Chinese Red Cross: 中国红十字会总会 www.redcross.org.cn

Please give. Also, keep in mind the aid work attempting to get into Burma, where the first air shipment of American relief has just touched down.

I don't have much to say about either, they're just too tragic. The Burmese situation being criminally mismanaged by the dictatorial regime. This piece in Slate, however, offers the right understanding of the regime's position but doesn't provide any real solutions. The Coalition of the Willing, an idea woefully underdeveloped, is unlikely to work without garnering real military resistance.

But it is an interesting idea- is there any amount of "humanitarian force" that can open up a closed border? If so, can we use it in North Korea, whose citizens are likely to be facing another year of famine as food prices skyrocket in the rest of the world?

This is too depressing, I'll have to continue later.

Bali Museum has several buildings:

• Tabanan Building.

Tabanan Building was a contribution from the royal family of Tabanan Kingdom. Its architecture is of Tabanan style representing that of south Bali in general. In former time such building was used to store the wealth and valuable properties of the king in the form of art objects as well as sacred equipments and tools.

• Karangasem Building.

The name of this building is taken from the name of Karangasem regency of east Bali who has built this building in year 1925 for the Bali Museum. This building is in the form of the Balai Penangkilan (a meeting place) in the king's palace of Karangasem with architecture of east part of Bali which has combined with the temple style and modified in accordance to museum's need.

• Buleleng Building.

The name of this building is taken from tha name of the Buleleng Regency of the north part of Bali who has presented this building to the Bali Museum in year 1932. The building is represents the style of a tempe pagoda (meru) with the architecture of north part of Bali style which is normally built in the temple and has modified in accordance to the museum's need.

• Beji.
• Resting Pavilion.
• Split Gate.
• Covered Gate.
• The Wooden Bell Tower.
• East Building.

The East Building is built in 1969 by Pelita Project. This two-stories building displays various pre-historical and historical collection of Bali, and also the development of art painting and sculpture in Bali since 16th century until present time.

• Library Building.
• Tickets Counter.
• Security.
• Conservation Lab.
• Auditorium.
• Administration Building.
• Entrance Gate.

Travel Tips of the Week

John Flinn, SF Gate: Travel Light Means Fewer Clothes, Wash Your Own

A great guide to washing clothes quickly with only a sink.

General

For everyone determined to make the most of their holiday time Bootsnall has five destinations where the summer sun just don't set (literally).

Bravenewtraveler has some suggestions for avoiding getting lost in a new city.

Wired's How To Wiki has an excellent guide to buying a digital camera.

Matador has some tips for visiting indigenous peoples.

The Americas

Intelligent Travel has some tips for finding the authentic Flushing in Queens, New York. The Guardian has some tips for free things to do in New York.

SFGate has a guide to LCC's in Mexico.

Europe

Eurocheapo has some cheap places to see Michelangelo's work in Florence, including the sadly overlooked Bargello. In Krakow they suggest five free things to do and for good measure they have five great places for a picnic in Paris.

Coach travel in Europe can be a more economical alternatives to the fabled Eurorail pass. itravelnet rounds up the low coast bus services in Europe and surveys European bus passes.

The Guardian has a guide to the Isle of Man. Ask a Local on High Culture on a Low Budget features Mike from London.

Nick Trend in The Telegraph claims to list Venice's top ten budget (well less than £130 a night) hotels.

With the Champions League final around the corner The Guardian has some suggestions for Moscow.

Rick Steves has a very entertaining audio discussions about Rome and Istanbul.

Asia

9000 Hours in Saigon has a guide to Vietnamese titles

Frommers has an audio guide to South Korea with Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee, author of Frommer's South Korea.

MSNBC has some tips for first time visitors to India.

Thailand is pretty cheap to begin with, but Budgettravelguide has some tips for making it even cheaper.

Travel Blogging - is that thing still around? has some tips for dealing with Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Stuff.co.nz has some tips for seeing Singapore with children.

Africa

Frommers.com Podcast discusses Namibia.

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[Sunset in Iceland by Deivis, Coach image by orisfrancesco.com, NAIA image via alexyra]

“Islamic Shariah scholars have led the way in innovation. Investors now demand more than just debt finance (lending and borrowing) in their products. They participate in the assets and this creates real economic value,” says Shaikh Yaqouby, an internationally-acclaimed Islamic scholar and teacher of Tafsir (a scientific study that focuses on the interpretation and explanation of the Holy Quran) based in Bahrain.

Read:
Islamic Bank of Asia (Singapore) sees increasing investor interest for Islamic finance (IslamicFinanceArabia.com)

State media reports indicated that the number of dead was likely to soar, with Xinhua news agency saying 10,000 people remained buried in the Mianzhu area of Sichuan province and that rescue troops had arrived for the first time at Wenchuan county, the epicentre of the quake.

Xinhua did not make clear if some of those buried were included in the overall death toll.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed to Sichuan, ordered troops to clear roads to Wenchuan, a hilly area about 100km from the provincial capital Chengdu.

Damage from Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake left the area completely cut off.

But rain and thick clouds meant that military helicopters dispatched to the area could not yet land, and if the weather remained overcast soldiers mobilised to help with rescue work would try to parachute in.

State television showed highways buckled and caved in from the quake and massive rockslides lining the roads.

In the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan - about midway between Chengdu and the epicentre - there were scenes of devastation, with buildings reduced to rubble and bodies in the streets, some only partially covered.

Troops and ambulances thronged the streets, and military trucks able to do heavy lifting had arrived. But many residents simply stood beside their wrecked homes, cradling possessions in their arms, and many huddled in relief tents under heavy rain.

"At least 60 or 70 old people lived there, as well as children," said a hospital worker surnamed Huo, gesturing to a building in ruins. Mattresses and household objects could be seen poking through the rubble.

"How could they survive that?" she asked.

Rescuers had worked frantically through the night, pulling bodies from homes, schools, factories and hospitals demolished by the quake, which rolled from Sichuan across much of China.

In the same city, about 900 teenagers were buried under a collapsed three-storey school building. Premier Wen bowed three times in grief before some of the first 50 bodies pulled out, Xinhua reported.

"Not one minute can be wasted," said Wen, a trained geologist.

"One minute, one second could mean a child's life."

Frantic relatives tried to push past a line of soldiers surrounding the school, desperate for news of their children.

"We're still pulling out people alive, but many, many have died," said one medical worker.

At a second school in Dujiangyan, fewer than 100 of 420 students survived, Xinhua reported.

Source - The New Zealand Herald

The response to this natural disaster was a welcome change compared to the slowness of the Myanmar [Burma] government in responding to the aftermath of the destruction caused by the cyclone in their country. According to Christian Broadcasting Network

India's meteorological department said Wednesday [7th May] that it had warned Myanmar of the storm two days [Thursday 1st May] before it made landfall [Saturday 3rd] there. This confirmed suspicions that the ruling junta and his military generals did not warn the populace or prepare the country for the impending disaster.

The state-run Indian Meteorological Department had been keeping a close tabs on the depression in the Bay of Bengal since it was first spotted on April 28 and sent regular updates about its progress to all the countries in its path, department spokesman B. P. Yadav said.

Many Yangon residents are far from pleased, saying they were given vague and incorrect information about the approaching storm.

They also received no instructions on how to cope when it struck. The information that the government did give out was broadcast on television.

This was of little use to much of the population that does not rely on electronic media for information, since power and TV access is very limited.

Delhi is up for a major face lift. Construction is at full swing. Be it the Metro tracks, maintenance of roads or the ill famed BRT, the latest bus service.

Looking at all this my colleague Sunaina had a few interesting lines to say -

Idhar Khuda hai
Udhar Khuda hai...
... jahan nahin Khuda hai
Wahan 'kal' Khud jaayega

A bad translation would be -

It's dug-up here
It's dug-up there
Where it isn't dug-up
It will be so tomorrow

But leaving aside the joke, this is surely a very interesting time to be in Delhi, as you get to see the future being constructed today. It's a major revolution and we are witness to it all.

We are seeing our world change and change (like in the latest CEAT ad) is here and healthy.

We are getting all the material for tales to narrate to the generations to come... Let's enjoy this change.

Cheers!

Find out more information about Whale Island at Vietnam Travel Notes

From the United States, there are three ways to go:

1. Cheap. Use a Chinese carrier such as China Eastern Airlines, fly from the West Coast to Guangzhou, then change planes to Chengdu.  Mainland Chinese carriers offer service that's inferior to some others (for example, United or Cathay), but if it saves you $500 it might be worth it.  They are usually more flexible on date changes and last minute bookings, than U.S. carriers. Total RT airfare might be as low as  $800 -$900. 

2. Cushy. Fly Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong, changing to Dragonair to continue on to Chengdu.  Cathay has got the nicest service we know about on this route.  Dragonair is great also, but they are really expensive $600-700 for the HKG-CTU roundtrip portion alone. Total bill $1400 -$1600. If you have to overnight in a Hong Kong hotel, you will spend lots more.

3. Compromise for the adventurous. Fly on a U.S. carrier to Hong Kong, take the train to Kowloon Station, taxi or walk 3-4 blocks to Hong Kong Ferry Terminal, then ride the ferry across the border to the Shenzhen Airport. A free shuttle bus takes you from the dock to the airport. From here you can fly to Chengdu for about $130 one way, or more like $160 when you add in the ferry ticket. Lots and lots of people do this. Chinese airlines are usually pretty good with last minute bookings - you can get a seat, and often the ticket is cheaper this way than when bought in advance.  Also, the ferry is really nice.

Upon entering China, where ever you change planes from an international flight to a domestic one, you will have to go through customs and immigration, change some money, go to the domestic terminal and check in again. Look for a kiosk where you pay the airport tax of 50 yuan (about $6); you need this receipt to get thru security and on the plane.

It is even cheaper if you travel across China by rail, and not a bad way to see the countryside. Consult a guidebook such as Lonely Planet, or a travel agent.

Important notes about Hong Kong

(1) Handover not withstanding, citizens of most western countries still do not need to obtain a visa in advance to visit; and (2) This is the quickest place to get a visa for the mainland. If you don't mind paying an extra fee, you can get your Chinese visa in as little as three hours.

Other air routes

NEW: there is now service from Seoul, Korea direct to Chengdu, on Asiana.  They offer some of the cheapest prices available.

Other air routes to Chengdu include Kathmandu-Lhasa-Chengdu or Bangkok-Kunming-Chengdu or Singapore-Chengdu. These routes are not served every day. Transiting in Lhasa may require a special permit.

Travel during the busy Chinese New Year season is crowded and difficult, owing to huge crowds heading home to their families for this biggest Chinese holiday of the year. Book far in advance and avoid train and bus travel.

On arrival in Chengdu

There are airport buses which take you (after a number of stops) to the airline booking office in the center of town, next to a big hotel called the Minshan Hotel. From here you can walk ten minutes to the Traffic Hotel. (Jiaotong Fandian in Chinese) which is the backpacker hangout. Very friendly, about $20 a night for a standard double with bath, including breakfast. They have bathless single rooms for maybe $10, very decent also. Any Chengdu guide book will tell you about the Traffic Hotel. There are lots of other hotels in town, some of which offer better value for the money, but none that is so convenient for the non-Chinese speaking traveler on his or her way to Kham.

If you want more luxurious accommodation, the Tibet Hotel (Xizang Fandian) has Tibetan-themed decor.  (Note: few, if any, of the employees at the Tibet Hotel are actually Tibetan). Other upscale choices are the Jinjiang Hotel and the Minshan Hotel.  The fanciest hotel in Chengdu is probably the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza. There are many many others, in all price ranges; see a China travel guide for the latest.

If you don' t want to take the airport bus, just hail a taxi at the airport, and they will take you directly to your hotel, which you should have written down in Chinese characters or be able to make a stab at pronouncing. If the taxi driver is experienced, he may well assume that you are going to the Traffic Hotel.  Make sure the driver uses a meter. There is a ten yuan toll that you, the passenger, have to pay to use the airport expressway.

Inside the airport the taxis are all the expensive variety: large cars, air conditioned.  Cheap taxis are not allowed to pick up inside the airport.  But it's not far to the gate, and there you can get one of the littler taxis.

Remember: if it doesn't have a working meter, then it's not an official taxi, but a free-lancer. Ride at your own risk.

Few weeks back, Myanmar has experienced the deadly cyclones killing thousands of people as a cyclone howled across towns and villages of the region.  What is appalling here is that the government of Burma refused foreign aid.  Personally with the degree of destruction that brought by the cyclone, Myanmar cannot run aid effort alone, let us face it, we need assistance from other countries who are unconditionally willing to help.

With the situation at hand, the question still remains to be answered - are we prepared for the threat of the natural disasters?  This is a global concern and should be addressed severely.  Peoples around the world and the international community should act on the issue of "disaster preparedness" and constitute ways and processes by which this natural catastrophes are dealt with.

Production growth could even be higher if recent appeals and incentives to grow more rice lead to a larger expansion of plantings, according to the Rice Market Monitor. “But the cyclone disaster in Myanmar could well worsen our forecast,” she added.
Read more

Kantor berita Xinhua mengatakan 80 persen gedung ambruk di kabupaten Beichuan dan kira-kira 10.000 orang lainnya diyakini cedera di sana. Pusat gempa bumi yang berkekuatan 7,8 skala Richter itu berada di Sichuan, kira-kira 92 km di baratlaut ibukota Provinsi Chengdu.

Gempa bumi itu terjadi tepat tengah hari — ketika klas sekolah dan perkantoran penuh. Ribuan tentara dan polisi segera dikirimkan ke kawasan pusat gempa di kecamatan Wenchuan , kira-kira 100 km dari Beichuan, yang berpenduduk 160.000 jiwa.

Di kawasan lainnya yang dekat dengan pusat gempa, para pekerja menggali reruntuhan bangunan sekolah di mana kira-kira 900 pelajar sekolah menengah terperangkap di bawah reruntuhan ketika gedung Sekolah Menengah Pertama Juyuan ambruk.

Sejumlah pelajar di sekolah itu dinyatakan tewas dan cedera. Gempa bumi itu terjadi hanya lebih dari tiga bulan sebelum dimulainya Olimpiade Musim Panas Beijing, yang diharapkan China dapat menjadi ajang penambahan popularitasnya di seluruh dunia.

Wartawan Xinhua dari kota Juyuan, kira-kira 75 km dari pusat gempa, melihat sejumlah remaja yang tertimbun reruntuhan berjuang untuk keluar dari timbunan reruntuhan bangunan bertingkat tiga, sementara yang lainnya ‘menangis memohon bantuan.’ Dua gadis dikutip oleh Xinhua sebagai mengatakan mereka lolos dari maut karena mereka ‘berlari lebih kencang dari yang lainnya.’

Kementerian Urusan Sipil mengatakan kepada Xinhua bahwa ribuan orang kemungkinan tewas di Provinsi Sichuan, Gansu dan Yunnan dan perkotaan Chongqing. Kementerian itu mengatakan kemungkinan banyak yang tewas tertimbun di bawah gedung-gedung yang ambruk, namun tidak ada rincian yang diberikan.

Sejumlah foto yang disiarkan melalui Internet menunjukkan mesin pencari Baidu menemukan tangan dan pinggul manusia tersembul dari reruntuhan sekolah ketika puluhan orang berusaha untuk membebaskan mereka, dengan menggunakan alat seadanya atau dengan tangan kosong mereka untuk memindahkan kepingan-kepingan beton guna mencari korban.

Gempa bumi yang melanda China Tengah itu menyebabkan ribuan orang bergegas keluar dari gedung-gedung bertingkat dan berdiri di jalanan ratusan km jaraknya dari Beijing dan Shanghai. Getaran gempa terasa sampai ke Pakistan, Vietnam, Taiwan dan Thailand.

Kantor berita Xinhua melaporkan bahwa empat dari korban tewas adalah pelajar tingkat sembilan ketika sekolah mereka ambruk. Sejumlah foto menunjukkan alat derek berat berusaha menyingkirkan reruntuhan dari bekas sekolah itu. Foto lainnya dari Wenchuan menunjukkan apa yang nampaknya satu gedung bertingkat enam yang rata dengan tanah.

Sejumlah bangunan runtuh sekurang-kurangnya di enam kabupaten dekat pusat gempa, kata Xinhua. Di Beijing dan Sanghai, pekerja kantor keluar dari tempat mereka bekerja dan memenuhi jalan-jalan ketika gempa melanda.

Di ibukota itu, yang akan menjadi tuanrumah olimpiade musim panas Agustus, tidak ada kerusakan yang tampak dan barang yang pantas dipamerkan stadion Bird’Nest selamat, insinyur proyek itu mengatakan pada Xinhua.

Namun di Sichuan, saluran telefon di Wenchuan putus samasekali dan situs Inernet untuk prefektur Aba di wilayah itu mengatakan gempa bumi tersebut telah memutus beberapa jalan raya besar dan komunikasi menurun di 11 kabupaten.

PM Wen Jiabao bergegas pergi ke daerah itu dan Presiden Hu Jintao telah memerintahkan upaya pertolongan “mati-matian”, lapor Xinhua. Ribuan tentara angkatan darat dan paramiliter Polisi Bersenjata Rakyat membawa perbekalan medis juga telah menuju ke wilayah tersebut, kata televisi negara.

Komite Sentral Partai Komunis dan Dewan Negara (Kabinet) telah meminta para pejabat pada semua tingkatan agar berada di garis depan guna menangani situasi setelah gempa bumi dan memimpin masyarakat mengerjakan usaha pertolongan,” katanya kepada para wartawan. PM Wen tiba di Chengdu sesaat sebelum matahari tenggelam guna memimpin operasi penyelamatan korban.

Jalan, rel KA terputus

Televisi negara memperlihatkan gambar warga di ibukota Sichuan Chengdu, di mana bandara dan stasiun kereta api tutup, kerumunan massa tampak di jalanan relatif tanpa cedera tapi satu wanita terlihat pendarahan dari kepalanya.

Sejumlah wisatawan asing dalam mantel mandi putih berjalan di sebuah jalan di Chengdu, tampaknya telah melarikan diri dari hotel mereka. Di beberapa bagian kota itu, air dan listrik terputus, kata radio pemerintah.

“Unit AC merosot dari dinding. Pot bunga semuanya retak,” seorang warga di Mianyang, Sichuan mengatakan. “Orang sakit di rumah sakit telah dipindahkan ke luar ke lapangan terbuka. Tidak ada listrik dan tidak ada tempat penerimaan telpon mobil. Orang takut gempa susulan.”

Survei Geologi AS mengatakan di situs Internetnya bahwa gempa sangat kuat itu melanda pukul 06.28 GMT (kira-kira pukul 13.28 WIB) pada kedalaman 10 km. Seorang pegawai di suratkabat setempat di Mianyang mengatakan ada beberapa gempa. USGS mengatakan ada sejumlah gempa susulan.

Xinhua mengatakan tidak ada dampak segera pada proyek Dam Tiga Gorges, yang terpenting dari waduk raksasa, ratusan kilometer dari Chengdu. Satu sumber di kilang minyak terbesar di China Barat, Lanzhou, mengatakan pabrik itu juga tampak tidak terkena oleh gempa.

Bandara di Chengdu, ibukota Provinsi Sichuan, ditutup dan jalanan dipadati kendaraan setelah gempa bumi itu, kata televisi pemerintah. Hujan diramalkan akan turun di daerah bencana, yang akan menambah rumitnya usaha pertolongan.

Panggilan-panggilan telefon ke kota itu tidak berjawab pada saat para penduduknya diliputi kepanikan. “Di Chengdu, telekomunikasi selular pun mengalami kemacetan dan ribuan operator tidak dapat beroperasi,” kata Sha Yuejia, wakil kepala eksekutif China Mobile.

Meski sulit bertelefon ke Chengdu, seorang pelajar Israel, Ronen Medzini, berhasil mengirimkan pesan ke The Associated Press yang mengatakan aliran listrik dan air terputus di beberapa kawasan bencana. “Kemacetan lalu lintas, air tidak jalan, listrik terputus, siapa saja duduk di jalanan, pasien dievakuasi dari rumah sakit dan duduk-duduk di luar gedung dan menunggu,” katanya.

Televisi pemerintah menyiarkan pesan-pesan kepada siapa saja yang terperangkap di bawah reruntuhan bangunan akibat gempa bumi. “Jika anda terkubur, tetaplah tenang dan simpan tenaga anda. Carilah air dan makanan dan tunggulah dengan sabar datangnya pertolongan,” kata CCTV.

Gempa bumi itu juga menggetarkan gedung-gedung di Beijing, 1.500 km di utara daerah bencana. Ibu kota China itu akan dipenuhi ratusan ribu pengunjung asing ketika dimulainya Olimpiade Musim Panas 8 Agustus.

Banyak kantor-kantor di menara-menara tinggi di Beijing diungsikan, termasuk gedung perkantoran media untuk panitia Olimpiade. Tak satupun dari tempat penyelenggaraan Olimpiade mengalami kerusakan.

Berlarian panik

Masyarakat berlarian panik di jalanan di kota lainnya, di mana banyak penduduk mengatakan mereka belum pernah merasakan gempa di daerah itu sebelumnya. Di Fuyang, 1.100 km ke timur di Provinsi Anhui province, lampu-lampu di lobi Buckingham Palace Hotel berayun-ayun.

“Kami belum pernah melihat dan merasakan gempa seperti ini dalam hidup kami,” kata seorang pekerja hotel yang menyebut namanya Zhu. Para pasien di RS Rakyat No.1 di Fuyang diungsikan. Satu jam setelah gempa bumi, setengah lusin pasien dengan mengenakan piyama pasien berdiri di luar rumah sakit. Salah seorangnya terbaring di atas tempat tidur rumah sakit di halaman parkir.

Lebih dekat ke pusat gempa di Chongqing, Lai Dequn sedang tidur, sementara ibunya menyaksikan televisii di lantai ke-19 sebuah hotel. “Saya tiba-tiba merasakan tempat tidur saya berguncang dan saya yakin itu gempa bumi,” kata Lai yang berusia 42 tahun. “Jadi saya segera berlari mengambil selop dan membantu ibu turun ke lantai dasar dan keluar dari kompleks hotel.

Di Shanghai, gedung-gedung pencakar langit berayun-ayun dan sebagian besar para pekerja kantor bergegas lari ke jalan. Satu guncangan gempa bumi berkekuatan 7,8 skala Richter dianggap suatu peristiwa besar, yang dapat menimbulkan kerusakan luas, mematikan dan mencederai masyarakat luas di daerah padat penduduk.

Gempa bumi kuat terakhir kali mengguncang China tahun 2003, ketika satu getaran berkekuatan 6,8 skala Richter menewaskan 268 orang di kecamatan Bachu di barat Xinjiang. Gempa bumi paling maut dalam sejarah modern melanda wilayah timurlaut Tangshan 28 Juli 1976 yang menewaskan 240. 000 jiwa. (m07/ap)

     Japanese encephalitis is an acute febrile infectious disease, characterized by sudden onset, fever, uncomfortable, headache, nuasea, vomiting (like erupting), stiffneck and lethargy.

     The symptoms of twitch, coma, even respiratory failure and death may occur in the severe cases. Diarrhea often occurs in children. Japanese encephalitis is caused by Japanese encephalitis virus, which is transmitted by the bite of mosquitoes. This disease is epidemic in eastern Asia, South East Asian countries and most part of India.

     The personal protective measures are as follows :

Wear long-sleeved shirts and trousers
Use insect repellents containing DEET on exposed skin
Use bed-nets if sleeping areas are not air-conditioned
Avoid staying in the jungle for a long time
Vaccinated before going to areas where the disease is common

     Enjoy travelling with safe!