If you want to get a sense of the immensity of the Sichuan earthquake earlier this month, take a moment to see a slide show put up on the Washington Post website.
It includes 86 photos. A word of note about the photographers, some of whom I saw at work in the quake zone. To get assigned to China, they will be some of the best in the world. And these are the best, most powerful, images among the tens of thousands they shot in the zone. They are better than the ones I've quickly posted along with this item.
These photographers (or shooters, as they are known in the trade) are the best regional photographers that the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Presse have in East Asia, coming from Japan, Thailand and elsewhere. There are also photos by Paula Bronstein, a staff photographer for Getty Images, one of the top photo agencies in the world.
For a different kind of photo gallery, click here to see those posted on the EastSouthWestNorth blog, picked up from the Guangyuan Daily News. (Scroll down the page to see them.) These photos don’t have the technical quality of the Post slide show. But they are perhaps more powerful because they capture key moments.
Check out two particularly haunting images. One is of adults crouched in fear in a courtyard surrounded by tall buildings as the quake hits. The next is of a couple clutching each other amid a cloud of dust rising as they quake jolts Qingchuan.
Take a look. Some of the photos are graphic. So put on your seatbelts.
Someone should direct this blog to Sharon Stone to let her know what the earthquake looks like. It is understandable that many boys are enlightened by Daliar Lama. She is the only woman I know who is enlightened by His Holiness.
Posted by: jeff | May 27, 2008 at 11:18 PM
If you are going to send us to zonaeuropa.com, then this story about a Sichuan Department of Health official assaulting a 17 year old volunteer who spilled disinfectant on him and the attempt at an official coverup is a must read.
http://www.zonaeuropa.com/200805c.brief.htm#020
The internet, widespread availability of communications devices, cameras, blogs, etc. have changed the country.
Now, officials are often held more accountable than they are in developed Western countries.
Too bad many officials in China hasn't figured that out yet.
Posted by: A B | May 27, 2008 at 11:25 PM
I only wish those bast*rd corrupt local officials are pulled out on the street and lynched.
Posted by: jeff | May 28, 2008 at 12:16 AM
jeff,
The only problem is corrupt officials are everywhere, in every department, every office, every company, private business, corporation, charity, NGO, you name it.
Just to make it perfectly clear, the above statements applies to every country, every local place, everywhere I have been.
How many do you want to kill? How many do you have the stomach to lynch before you stop?
You can no more get rid of corruption than you can get rid of every person on earth.
Now, having said that, I have been in the most evil, nasty, vicious places / societies, and I have found people of honor, dignity, and courage.
You can't get rid of these people either.
If you have such angry feelings about corrupt officials, might you yourself be a part of the problem? For you are angry at them for weaknesses that almost every one of us has --- unless you are a Saint.
I for one, am most definitely not a Saint.
Calm down.
Cool it.
Deal with the corrupt officials with kindness, firmly, and guide them to see a better way.
Corrupt officials can become very respectable people.
Not always, but often enough to warrant not lynching them --- only to have them replaced by another group of corrupt officials.
Posted by: A B | May 28, 2008 at 01:30 AM
A B,
I find myself in total agreement with you. It is a disorienting feeling, I am a little dizzy, but the truth is the truth. Your words are wise.
Our familia left Mexico because of such people, not that they don't also exist in California. Or anywhere there are weak and selfish people. But here in LA, the news people constantly are snooping around. Also, there are many lawyers. many, many lawyers.
As a water buffalo, I am enjoying your piano playing.
Posted by: Wilbur Varela | May 28, 2008 at 05:00 AM