The Catalyst

By Miranda Guadnola, Reporter

China became the recent target of an earthquake on Wednesday, April 14. The 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the mountainous area in Yushu County in western China including the town of Jiugu.
A local official of Jiugu estimated that at least 85% of all buildings have been destroyed by the quake. People are doing their best to reach people by moving the rubble, using their hands, ropes, picks, shovels, etc., , but there are still large mounds of buildings hindering efforts. Heavy machinery is supposed to reach the mountain area sometime in the next couple of days.

As of Friday, the death toll had been estimated at 1,144 and another 417 were still missing. “We’ve been too busy tending to the living to count the dead,” said Gen Lai Tan Zeng. But the living can barely escape death themselves. Twelve thousand are estimated to be injured and with limited supplies and shelter, the chances for survival are very low. Temperatures fall below freezing at night and survivors have very few opportunities for shelter from the cold.

Disease is also threatening to spread as the severe earthquake may have damaged the water supply. Another threat of disease is that the squirrels that carry the plague could come out of hibernation early due to the disruption of their burrows and spread the plague to the masses of people that are forced to be outside.

Buddhist monks have been preparing the mass of dead people for cremation, while rescue efforts continue to find the estimated 417 people that are missing.