One year on

Today marks the anniversary of the 8.0 earthquake that devastated so many lives in Sichuan. Read the blog's posts on the earthquake here.

According to China Daily, more than 87000 people are dead or missing and by an official estimate, more than 5000 children. I feel so blessed that we escaped unscathed from the quake.... if we have a moment to spare in our busy schedules, let us pause, reflect and pray.

Herd instinct

[Tuesday, 20 May]

At 11pm last night, minibeanie had just gotten an early night-time feed and I'd emerged from my shower. Time to unwind, watch some tv and read my mails. It was not to be however. At 11:22pm, I got a call from the Singapore consulate that there have been news that a 6-7 Richter aftershock is likely to impact Chengdu and they advised everyone to leave.*

Can they predict earthquakes, I'd wondered? Nonetheless, it was safer to err on the side of caution, we thought. So then, the all too familiar evacuation process kicked in - frantic gathering of minibeanie's milk, baby food, spoon, bottle, diapers, change of clothes etc. We picked up the sleeping baby who was probably very puzzled what the fuss was all about, and made our way out of our apartment. It was probably midnight but all the locals were already out and pitching tents in the open. People were still dressed in their pyjamas with drowsy children hoisted over their shoulders and blankets draped around them.

Telecommunication lines were not working again. We trudged along hoping to get a taxi but it was a futile attempt. It was deja vu all over again where exactly a week ago, some Finnish friends & I were walking on the same road with bags of stuff hoping to get a ride to safety. There was an air of panic in the humid night even as some locals were pulling out tables for an all-night game of mahjong. Every car on the road was either heading for its refuge or being parked by the road side with its inhabitants camping in it. However, despite the almost carnival feeling from some quarters, I wasn't feeling the least bit jolly. Eventually, we got to Shangri-La, 400m from where we stayed, and got a taxi.

It was past 1am when we reached a friend's home. Again, we slept on the ground floor just in case we'd to make a dash. I almost wished the aftershock would come to get it over and done with.

The night passed without any incident. Apparently, at 2am when I was still awake, there was a 5.1 aftershock but it passed without me noticing it.

* Subsequently, it emerged that Chengdu was not in any danger of aftershocks after all not unless one's staying in a structurally unsound building (duh?). The power of media on a jittery population?

1 week on

At precisely 1428 today, it will be exactly 1 week to the 8 richter quake that decimated so many towns and snuffed out the lives of so many people. Flags will be flown at half mast and 3 minutes of silence will be held.

I feel incredibly blessed to have been spared the catastrophe. Let's pray for those who have lost their loved ones or homes.

Help needed

A couple of days ago when there were rumours circulating that Chengdu's water supply had been contaminated with chemicals from a chemical plant that had exploded, people in the city began a run on the shops for water and all liquids. As a result, our 'commune' of 9 adults and 5 children stockpiled a massive amount of milk, yoghurt and juices. Now that the rumours have been put to rest, we have donated the everything that we didn't need to the Red Cross.

Tomorrow, I'll give away minibeanie's stock of diapers and a few packets of formula milk powder.

These are the items needed for the earthquake survivors:

Water purification tablets
Water filtration equipment
Antiseptics – e.g. Dettol and other domestic antiseptic liquids
Pesticides (anti-mosquito)
Medicine (antibiotics/penicillin,antibiotic cream for skin application
oral antibiotics, cephalexin, levofloxacine, injectable antibiotics, e.g. cefazolin, cyprofloxacine, anti-diarrhea medicine: Immodium, Pepto Bismol, Paracetamol (or Tylenol), ibuprofen)
saline: sterile saline for injection: 500ml glass bottles 0.9% NaCl
IV set: tube that drips fluid into veins
Syringes with needles: 2cc, 3cc, and 5cc
bandages, clutch materials
swabs (squares of gauze) for cleaning wounds; sterile and non-sterile
alcohol.l for cleaning wounds: Isopropynol 70%
iodine for cleaning wounds
medical tape
suture material: surgical thread and needles (in individual sterile packets with needle on)
Lidocaine: for local anaesthetic
Vitamin B injection (comes in ampules)
Dexamethasone for injection – useful for treating people in shock: comes in ampules of 10ml each
Oral glucose (specially good for kids)
Oral electrolyte (Crystals are easier for transport)
Disinfectant, bleach, Dettol
Soap
infant/baby formula
diapers/nappies
sanitary towels for women
tarpaulin sheets
anti-mosquito materials
Food (oatmeal, other cereals, soy powder, dry noodles, salt, sugar, dried foods ie. mushrooms, mu'er, fruit)
Money more than anything (to buy supplies locally (medicine; fresh fruit/food; water)
Tents/shelter

It's a scary long list but here are some ways you can help:

MercyCorp
Chinese Red Cross Foundation


minibeanie is 9 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old

Aftermath of the Quake

To continue where I left off... I grabbed the essentials from my apartment which basically consisted of minibeanie's milk, 1 bottle, a couple of diapers, jars of baby food and a change of his clothes. We then faced the challenge of making our way to our friend's home. Hailing a cab was extremely difficult as there were markedly fewer cabs on the street and lots of people needed a ride. We walked to a busy intersection in hope that it would be easier to get a taxi. I was sure we looked quite a picture. I'd minibeanie in my baby carrier in front of me and a heavy backpack, my friend tugged along 2 tired blond kids and her husband who had by now found us, towed a trolley luggage. It was getting to be 9pm and we were still waiting in the streets.

Meanwhile, the sense of emergency in the city was palpable. A convoy of military vehicles with their sirens blaring passed us by a hair's breadth when we were crossing a road. Then, heavy vehicles with lifting equipment, ambulances & fire trucks thundered by. There was a sense of foreboding - something bad has happened.

Finally, a kind taxi driver allowed us to hitch a ride with his existing passenger and we reached our destination late in the evening. It was the closest I felt to a refugee - not just the grime and dirt but the sense of uncertainty and unease. Is the apartment safe? When can we move back? Will there be more quakes?

That night, all of us slept on the ground floor of the 2-storey house. The plan was that if we needed to evacuate quickly to the open, there would be less ground to cover. Most residents (crap, just as I was writing this, there was an aftershock. And although it was nothing like the first one, my heart started racing) that night slept in the open amphitheater under tents.

True enough, there was an aftershock that got the 3 womenfolk of the house up and wondering what to do at 4+ am. [At that moment, DH in XiAn, 900km away, got woken up by a shaking bed] We headed back to bed after deciding that the worst of the aftershock was over and it posed no danger. The menfolk of course slept through it blissfully unaware.


minibeanie is 9 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old

The day the earth moved

Where do I even begin?

On Monday, May 12, at about 1440, I had put down minibeanie's half empty bowl resigned to the fact that that was all he would be eating. And that was all I remembered because the next thing that I remembered were the walls of my 2 storey apartment swaying accompanied by a terrible rumbling sound. I was rooted to the floor in shock. It felt surreal. I actually remembered thinking, "this can't be happening, it's almost cool... no wait, this is terrible."

When something you assume as immovable as a room starts to move, the very foundation of your being is shaken. It was a terrifying sight to see the 8m wall behind me move left and right. In my paralysis, I actually analyzed that it was either an earthquake or a badly built 30 storey building; if it was the latter, I would be so screwed.

A few terrifying seconds passed before I could rouse myself to do anything. My AYi clamoured down the stairs with fear written all over her face and asked what should we do. I had no idea. She didn't even know if Chengdu was in an earthquake zone. Fearing that the ceiling or walls would collapse, I unbuckled minibeanie out of his rocker pronto and dived under the dining table. In my fear, I actually recalled watching a documentary of Japanese school children being told to head under their tables when earthquakes struck.

My AYi had the opposite reaction. She wanted to see what the neighbours were doing so she headed for the door. Things were falling around us. Our water dispenser with nearly 15 liters of water toppled as did the Chinese screens on the 2nd storey study. But I was rooted under the table and prayed, "God, please let the tremors stop." Never had I prayed so fervently.

After what seemed like a very long time, the swaying and tremors did stop and so did the awful rumbling & crashing. It was then I got out from my refuge and headed for the lift landing with my AYi but not before having the presence of mind to grab my baby carrier and keys. The lifts were not working - not that I'd have contemplated taking them anyway. There were scores of people in the stairwell. Everyone was relatively calm. When we finally got out of the building, relief gave way to thankfulness and the realization of what had actually happened. Most of us were visibly shaking like a leaf and I was in my nightie.

I united with a Finnish friend & her 2 boys - they had ran down from the 19th floor without their shoes and the boys only had their t-shirts and underwear on. We waited in the street for close to 5 hours then decided that we would seek refuge with a Finnish family. When we were finally let into our condo at 7pm, I ran up the stairs to get a couple of essentials.

It was eerily quiet in the compound. No children running, no one coming home from work, no baby strollers around. I think I took 10 minutes to pack and I felt every minute. Every sound was magnified and all senses were on high alert. Just as I closed my kitchen door to the wash area, there was a low rumble, my kitchen began shaking and I heard the glassware clattering. Great, I'd brought down my apartment with the kitchen door.

I later heard it was a 5.2 aftershock. The first quake measured 8 on the richter scale, nearly 1000 times bigger than the aftershock.

Click on image to get a bigger picture

Geology, Engineering contribute to Quake Damage

minibeanie is 9 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old