China reported a big earthquake of magnitude 7+ today near Chengdu, Sichuan province. Initial reports of hundreds possibly dead is almost certainly vastly below the actual number, which will trickle upward. Rural Chinese construction is shoddy at best, and populated areas near a quake of that magnitude will be flattened. Godspeed to the rescuers attempting to reach those buried and trapped.
At only some 1,000 miles from Beijing, will this affect the Olympics, scheduled to open in less than three months? Unlikely -- Beijing's buildings, especially those built in the last 30 years, have earthquake safeguards designed in. But if a temblor of the size of the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit Tangshan in 1976 comes during the Olympcs, that could bring the Games to a standstill. Tangshan is only about 130 miles east of Beijing, and the Chinese capital was still digging out from the rubble of collapsed homes and rickety buildings. I saw that myself, as the Tangshan earthquake was in July, 1976 and I was in Beijing that September.
At only some 1,000 miles from Beijing, will this affect the Olympics, scheduled to open in less than three months? Unlikely -- Beijing's buildings, especially those built in the last 30 years, have earthquake safeguards designed in. But if a temblor of the size of the 7.8-magnitude quake that hit Tangshan in 1976 comes during the Olympcs, that could bring the Games to a standstill. Tangshan is only about 130 miles east of Beijing, and the Chinese capital was still digging out from the rubble of collapsed homes and rickety buildings. I saw that myself, as the Tangshan earthquake was in July, 1976 and I was in Beijing that September.
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