I'm surprised this forum isn't on fire with talk about the quake. I'm devouring the news, photos and videos on the net. There's a lot to be learned here. There are photos showing how people are improvising and adapting. I'm also looking to see how people react to this event. What's working and whats not. I guess I envision a thread to distill the facts as the apply to the scope of this forum. Forget the politics, building codes, and lack of preparation. Lets observe and see if the preparations we endlessly talk about would work there. Lets talk about what these people are doing to survive.

I live in los angeles and this is a concern for me, earthquakes strikes without warning and the only thing that make me live long enough to use my preparation is pure luck of not buried in the initial tremor.

Just another in a long string of bad luck in east Asia. I will say that the PRC appears to have thier ducks in a row, and they aren't hiding it which I applaud them for.

7.9 is just a number and doesn't mean much until you put it in perspective. The Recent earthquakes map for CA & NV doesn't go to 8 and the biggest we've had lately is a 4.3 off the coast. I suspect that if a 7.9 hit SOCAL that website would go offline -- 7.9 is fraking huge. The death toll in China is going to be high (but won't approach the death toll in Myanmar from that Cyclone they should have seen coming) and a kit isn't much use if you die in the initial moments. Afterward, if you can find your kit, it's time to start working, no time for bugging out.

i think there is not much talk because it's like seeing a
major auto wreck in person--all you can do is say "good lord!!"
and turn away..

Having an intimate connection with that area, all I've been able to do is weep. I know what is in store for those people, I know what is in store for the children, especially the newly orphaned. Y'all have no idea of the hell that they are in for.

Latest news is the earthquake cracked a bunch of dams. If they collapse then things will get worse by several orders of magnitude.

For those who wish to help, I can vouch for Half the Sky organization. They are devoted to helping Chinses orphans. With all the money going towards relief efforts these little ones are going to get screwed (more).

Sidenote: don't get me started on the Burma typhoon.

-Blast

A new wrinkle is all the damaged dams in the region. The authorities reported almost 400, mostly small, dams have been damaged. Obviously, flooding downstream is the immediate danger, but then you also face loss of the reservoirs which may supply drinking water to more distant communities. Plus, some may have hydroelectric plants which would presumably be damaged, too, if a dam breaks.

Shifting focus here--I don't know how seismically active the area around the collosal Three Gorges Dam is, but if that puppy ever broke due to a massive quake (and 7.9 really is massive), that would be catastrophic.

You're right about SoCal not being hit quite that hard. However, the Landers quake and the one up in The Valley were both in the low 7's, right? 7.3 and 7.1 I believe. For the most part, the area weathered them well.

Obviously a 7.9 is quite a bit larger, but I'm hoping that when/if that size hits, my family and the entire region will fare quite a bit better. I doubt they have the building codes in China that we do!

Anyway, given the recent turmoil in Asia, I'm glad I'm not living there...

Truly sad. Especially for those affected by the "one child" policy. From what I understand, many buildings were not built to specs which led to swift, massive collapse.

in places where earthquakes are a threat, what are the odds a reinforced "bomb shelter" type structure would help? even in the basement for instance, a steel cage type room that could withstand the weight of a crumbled house? with all the usual provisioning of course, this could serve as a good holding area until help arrived. is there even a chance of making it into the cage successfully?