Photos: Heavy Floods Hit China, 43 Dead

Heavy floods sweep through Beichuan County in southwest China’s Sichuan province on Tuesday, July 9.

Death toll reaches 43 after heavy floods hit Dujiangya, Southwest China.

The floods caused landslides including a landslide as big as a small town  that rushed down a mountain earlier in the week.

At least 118 people are still missing.

The disaster destroyed 5,100 houses, damaged another 90,000, smashing bridges and knocking out power to thousands of people.

More than 1.5 million people are affected by the flood.

It is said that this is the worst flood since 1998.

Forecast says that there will be more storms coming soon.

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World’s Largest Building Opens In China

To put this in perspective, Chengdu’s New Century Global Center is big enough to house 20 Sydney Opera Houses.

New Century Global Center, which opened on June 28, 2013 is the ‘largest free standing building in the world’.

Located in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province in southwestern China, the New Century Global Center is 500 meters long, 400 meters wide and 100 meters high.

But remember, New Century Global Center is the largest building and not the tallest as the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

The New Century Global Center is located in an entirely new planned area of Chengdu called Tainfu New District.

There are offices, hotels, theaters, shopping malls, a faux Mediterranean village and family-themed attractions such as a water park called Paradise Island in the huge building.

The 1.7 million square meter mega structure is capable of housing twenty Sydney Opera Houses and almost three times the size of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

Here are the photos …

(Please click the photos for bigger images)

To put this in perspective, Chengdu’s New Century Global Center is big enough to house 20 Sydney Opera Houses. Photo by CNN.

That’s a lot of work for two people. Photo by CNN.

Welcome to paradise. Paradise Island, that is. Photo by CNN.

Chengdu is also currently expanding its subway line and plans to construct a new airport by 2020, further suggesting official ambitions to make the city an economic and cultural capital of western China. Photo by CNN.

Workers carry out a few last minute touches at the New Century Global Center’s waterpark. Photo by CNN.

With 1.7 million square meters of floor space, the building is three times bigger than the Pentagon. It has more palm trees than the Pentagon too. Photo by CNN.

Rather than Opera Houses, inside are offices, hotels, theaters, high-end shopping malls, a water park and the essential faux Mediterranean village . Photo by CNN.

 

 

Earthquake Hit China’s Sichuan, Killing At least 71

A view of a collapsed building with a sign reading, “Lushan Kindergarden” after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit southwestern China’s Sichuan province is seen in this April 20, 2013 still image taken from TV. The earthquake hit the province on Saturday, killing at least 28 people and injuring at least 100 close to where a big quake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008. REUTERS/China Central Television (CCTV) via REUTERS TV

China’s Sichuan province was hit by an earthquake on Saturday morning April 20, 2013.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that at least 71 people were killed while more than 2200 others were injured.

The earthquake occurred at 8.02 a.m. (0002 GMT) in Lushan county near Ya’an city and the epicenter had a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

China’s seismological bureau measured the earthquake at magnitude-7 while the U.S. Geological Survey at 6.6.

It was reported that nearly all of the structures in Longmen village collapsed and that nearly 10,000 houses were damaged throughout the county.

Water and electricity were cut off in Lushan.

The shallow depth of the earthquake caused greater damages to the area.

Hard-hit parts of the county remained unreachable by road, with several highways cut off.

On May 12, 2008, a devastating 7.9-magnitude quake struck the nearby area leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead.

Please click here fore more photos:

Strong Earthquake Hit China (Updated)

China earthquake

Please click here for the September 7, 2012 China earthquake; 5.6 Magnitude Quake Hit China – Photos

Another natural disaster happened today.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Qinghai in China at 7:49 am local time (7:49 pm ET Tuesday).

The epicenter was about 150 miles (240 kilometer) northwest of Qamdo, Tibet.

There were strong aftershocks of magnitude 5.2 and 5.3 about half an hour of the quake.

Most houses were made of wood with earthen walls in the area.

A lot of houses and other buildings collapsed.

At least 300 people were killed and 8000 were injured.

Many others were still buried under the debris.

This place is in the mountains and far from the big cities.

So there are not much heavy machines and medical equipments.

In 2008 a 7.9 earth quake hit neighboring Sichuan province.

About 90,000 were killed or missing in that earthquake.

In 2010, strong earthquakes hit Haiti, Chile,Mexico and Indonesia .

When I first wrote this post this morning, there was only one person reported killed.