Earthquake In China

Several readers sent in links on the earthquake that hit 10 hours ago near the Sichuan city of Chengdu in China. The Telegraph focuses on the citizen journalism that got word on the quake out on the Net instantly (the first report was via Twitter). Science magazine speculates that deaths from this event could exceed the 240,000 killed in the Tangshan quake in 1976, though the estimated death toll is below 10,000 at this writing. Hundreds of videos are up on YouTube, including this footage from a security camera — keep your eye on the goldfish.

Comments

A tragedy...

[iamdrscience]

I shudder to think how many lives could have been saved if only they had spent less time on chinese fire drills and more time on chinese earthquake drills.

Re:News for Nerds?

[snotclot]

I think they just wanted an excuse to use the Quake game icon...

Re:News for Nerds?

[William Robinson]

:-D

You know, it made me smile more, when I saw "Compare prices on Quake" in the related links.

Re:The real tragedy of the earthquake...

[MrNaz]

The initial 4:40 is to give you time to find your bottle of Ritalin.

Re:Twitter?

[ComaVN]

Sorry, but I just had to laugh at that translation:

a large toad movement: hundreds of thousands of toads mighty size of a pharmaceutical factory in the vicinity of walking on the road, many vehicles were crushed

Hundreds of thousands of toads the size of factories crushing vehicles? That makes the earthquake seem like a minor inconvenience...

Re:This is the future

[IntelliTubbie]

The instant an event happens anywhere in the world you have hundreds of cameras on it. This is a very, very good thing. Reporters and ground crews are no longer necessary to capture footage, you can get it de novo, unfiltered, unbiased. And then, 12 hours later, Slashdot limps across the finish line! Technology may advance, but at least some things never change.

Cheers,
IT