Earthquakes used to be something remote for 33-year-old Cao Lili -- that is until she saw on TV what had happened in Sichuan Province on May 12. On one hand, she had been shedding tears and praying for the victims. On the other, she was collecting knowledge on how to survive in quakes.
"I'm surprised to find sometimes it's wrong to hide under desks as we have been told. We should seek shelter in triangle areas -- space possibly formed by the falling ceiling, the floor and the hard objects like a wall, bed or tables," says the English teacher in Longkou, Shandong Province, thousands of kilometers away from Sichuan. "I'm passing the information on to my students."
The earthquake shook an area about 100,000 sq km involving 27.92 million people, the size of some European countries, figures from the Sichuan provincial government show.
The death toll has risen to nearly 70,000 with almost 20,000 still missing, and the figures are updated on a daily basis.
Despite the tragedy, the earthquake has improved public awareness about natural disasters. A survey carried out by China Youth Daily and Sohu.com shows that among 4,309 respondents, about61 percent say they will learn more about rescue knowledge and prepare first aid tools at home.
The quake also reshapes people's habits, for example, in apartment purchases. "The TV says buildings made of concrete frames will be relatively safe, while those with pre-cast concrete slabs can not stand big quakes," Cao says. She felt assured when finding out her apartment belonged to the relatively quake-resistant type.
More clients are asking salesmen "what levels of earthquake can the building stand" before buying an apartment.
"The big quake influenced the purchasers' psyche. They put construction quality first, instead of price, location, age or accessory facilities," says Zhang Yujing, a saleswoman at a high-rise in Jinan, Shandong Province. "They favor the middle and lower floors, while in the past those above 11 floors were most popular due to wide views and good ventilation."
A survey carried out by China Youth Daily and QQ.com involving 1,232 respondents, revealed 94.1 percent hoped to participate in disaster-fighting or self-rescue manoeuvres, and 85.3 percent never had such activities before.
"The survival knowledge and techniques should be promoted," says Wang Donghai, a Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences researcher. "I lived in the United States for about 10 years. My children were taught how to react in hurricanes, fires and earthquakes in primary schools. It's very practical and useful. Such knowledge is not paid much attention to in our country."
Huang Xiaohua, a 40-year-old from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, bought a book on survival skills for his son in middle school and asked him to finish it in a month. "I have paid much attention to my son's studies in Chinese, mathematics or even musical instrument, but neglected his study of survival skills. We are making up for it."
Books on earthquakes survival skills have showed up in conspicuous places in book stores. "After the quake, books on earthquakes and rescue mushroomed. They sell well, especially those on earthquake causes, dangers, rescue skills and psychological rescue," says Wang Liangqiang, a book dealer in Jinan.
Japan is taken as an exemplary country in promoting disaster rescue education. "Japan pays much attention to survival skills education," says Zhu Chengshan, a researcher with the Nanjing International Peace Research Institute, who has visited Japan many times. "Even kindergarten children are asked to enter earthquake simulators to learn how to escape."
Sichuan is mulling to build an earthquake museum on the affected area, both as a memorial and for education. Different parts of China are promoting lessons on survival skills to the public. Yunnan Province plans to have courses on survival skills in kindergartens and middle and high schools in some pilot cities.
While science has increasingly found its way into public conversation, many are questioning why experts failed to provide predictions before the disastrous quake.
"We are under great pressure," says Ren Luchuan, a researcher with China Earthquake Networks Center the under China Earthquake Administration. "In fact we feel a kind of guilt after the disaster and some even need psychological help."
It's an international difficulty for experts to predict earthquakes in a short term -- namely within 10 days, Ren says.
Three factors contribute to the difficulty in earthquake prediction, Ren says. "We haven't built up a complete theory on earthquake prediction; the survey data on signs before an earthquake cannot be sufficiently collected; experiences on predicting an earthquake within a short term are very limited."
Many are debating signs before the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, like the migration of thousands of toads before the quake.
Ren says, "It's natural for toads to migrate after they grow up from tadpoles. No scientific evidence proves there is a direct link between toad migration and earthquakes."
Ren and his colleagues have received a lot faxes each day, many claiming they had found earthquake-related signs: from ground water level changes, to "irritable dolphins" and "crying tortoises." "We sort the information out for further study."
"Animals might have some capacities that human beings can not understand. For example, no elephants were found dead in the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004. However, the theory on earthquakes and animal reaction is not fully built and thus we need to select through the information," Ren says.
A rumor circulated online the day when the Wenchuan earthquake occurred -- parts of Beijing would suffer a 2 to 6 magnitude earthquake from 10 p.m. to 12 p.m. on May 12.
"Anyone with basic seismic knowledge can know it's a rumor," says Ren, "It's impossible to provide so precise a place and time before any earthquake with current techniques ... It's also ridiculous to predict a 2 to 6 magnitude earthquake. A magnitude means 32 times of energy shift. A 6-magnitude earthquake can wreak great havoc, while a 2-magnitude earthquake happens almost everyday."
Sciencenet.com, a website for science workers, received more visitors after the quake. "The daily hits rose to 240,000 from 100,000 before the quake. The most popular search items are quake-related information," says Zhao Yan, chief editor of Sciencenet.cn under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Some peasants and middle-school students leave messages asking bloggers about quake information. They are not supposed to be our target users, but the disaster expanded our user group as people in emergency have a nature to turn to safety, including reliable information."
"But there is still a gap between the demand and need for scientific information," says Zhao. "More efforts should be done to promote scientific information among the public on how to react in disasters."
Thousands of kilometers away from Sichuan, Cao found herself bothered by talks of toad migration in her hometown. "They say there you might step on two or three of them (toads) ... Some panicked and bought almost all beamed cakes in the town (to store them as emergency food). We need more access to authoritative information."
Source: Xinhua
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