Mother Nature grumbles

In case you're somehow checking this blog from under a rock, there was a big earthquake in central China today. Apparently despite being about 1000 miles away, some people in Shanghai felt it (I think particularly those working in skyscrapers downtown/near the river), but I was blissfully ignorant. In fact, as it took place (about 2:30pm local time), my language teacher and I were commenting on the fact that the window-washer on the ledge outside our window wasn't wearing any kind of harness (or safety equipment of any kind, actually). My classroom is on the 7th floor, so for the window-washer's sake, I'm glad the building didn't shake.

I've heard that a couple of buildings in Shanghai did shake enough to be briefly evacuated, and the obnoxiously ugly Pearl Tower is or was being checked for damage. The big suspense now is whether they will be able to rescue some 900 schoolkids who have been trapped in Chengdu (nearest large city to the epicenter), but I'm sure the stories will get worse -- the Chengdu airport closed down for a few hours after the quake, so news has been spotty thus far. When I got a phone call around 7 to turn on the television, one of the main Chinese stations was phone-interviewing a reporter who was still at the airport waiting for her flight into the area. In fact, one of my primary news sources appears to be getting half of its updates from CNN, so I can't add anything you can't find elsewhere.