First, our sincerest condolences to the families left behind by the recent earthquake in China that has left more than 12,000 dead and the toll is expected to continue rising due to more areas that are still cut off but the strong quake. Just a quote, for I just can’t seem to notice the still crazy way the Chinese government has in terms of propaganda which it still uses as a main tool for spreading it’s word and keeping it’s hold on its people. Get a handful of photos from the State news agency and you see soldiers ready to go to battle with the search and rescue, soldiers rescuing people and soldiers marching on their way to help those buried in the quake. What about the millions of miserable people who are out there miserable without anything left to live in or eat? What about full aerial shot of the areas which are affected that may give the rest of the world a full view of the magnitude the disaster that is developing. People left to fend for themselves without regional disaster supplies and equipment to deal with such emergencies hence their leaders live in splendor of the capital city.
The government is getting praise for their swift efforts but as one of the largest economies on earth, shouldn’t people in local areas be trained to deal with such disasters. Imagine the worst hit areas, only one line of communication was left that allowed military planners and disaster experts in Beijing to know the magnitude, one government issued satellite phone and that was it. All the areas surrounding the major city center in the worst hit province has little known about their residents?
Focus more on the people and not on the rescuers and their efforts, to hell with the lavish parades as the Olympic torch makes its way through the country. Pull cash from the lavish displays and security in the torch relay and rush aid and people to the stricken areas. That should be China’s priority. In a country where the government is still trying to get used to money from the outside world, corruption still abounds. The collapsed school buildings are surely made of shabby materials and will surely be riddled with holes left by corruption in the ranks of the local officials and civil engineers who have approved the construction of such weak structures in such an earthquake prone area. When will they learn that the people come first and children are the future? Children are the worst hit with schools and other structures collapsing like matchsticks pan caking one after the other, a six story building reduced to a pile of rubble two meters thick?!! China has a lot of growing up to do in terms of people and with money pouring in from the rest of the world; the Chinese government is still pockmarked with corruption even with their displays of stiff penalties for criminals which goes to show that old tactics don’t work anymore.
Originally posted on May 13, 2008 @ 7:47 am