8 responses so far ↓

• 1    Meng // Jun 1, 2008 at 10:30 am

  What?! They completely ignored it? =O

• 2    Jungeun Choi // Jun 1, 2008 at 10:34 am

  Wow, if you hear of a massive earthquake blow, from a damn scientist, you’re supposed to take it seriously. If they had prepared for the earthquake since 2006, may be all the deaths and devastation that was caused would not have been as bad. I don’t know if the chinese government underestimated the earthquake or was just in denial… but either way, GRRRRRRR.

• 3    Keivn Wong // Jun 1, 2008 at 10:56 am

  It is really sad how so many people died in this earthquake. How could the chinese government ignore such a serious warning.If they had prepared for the earthquake less people would have died.

• 4    Daniel H. // Jun 1, 2008 at 11:36 am

  It’s truly unbelievable that the Chinese government would actually try to cover up that an earthquake was predicted. The only possible rationale I can give is that the Chinese government did not want to worry its citizens or put any strain on preparations for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Still, there is no excuse for ignoring the warnings and not making any preventative efforts. As a government, the first priority should be protecting its citizens, something that the Chinese government blatantly failed to do in this case.

• 5    David Ensey // Jun 1, 2008 at 3:15 pm

  As much as I believe that the volume of casualties in this situation could have been reduced significantly by heeding the warnings presented to the government, one still must take into account the number of “doomsday” predictions put forth to authorities. If governments accepted and planned for even the most credible ones, there would still be bogus warnings and needless preparation. A more intelligent solution, in my mind, would have been to assess the quality of buildings in the area (and, ideally, the whole of China) long before the quake took place in order to recognize and address structural issues as serious as those in these schools and houses. In order to protect citizens, governments should act proactively to ensure safety instead of retroactively, after the deaths of thousands. Money spent instead of lives? That seems worth it to me.

• 6    Edwin Zhang // Jun 1, 2008 at 4:44 pm

  Wow, i can’t believe that tried to cover it up when they knew it could kill thousands of people. At least they’re trying to do a lot to help with the recovery but still…

• 7    Hong Zhou // Jun 1, 2008 at 10:03 pm

  wow….its amazing how people can just say its been predicted since 2006, it is hard enough to predict earthquakes minutes/hours before hand, there is no way to accurately predict something years before

  sure, scientists knows the regions of the world that are likely to have earthquakes due to studying plate tectonics and they can guess a general period of time for an earthquake to occur but that is not something worth making serious actions about…its like saying a hurricane will wipe out new orleans in the next ten year and forcing everyone to leave (to save lives, but at the same time ruining the economy of the region and peoples lives too)

  there are enough disaster movies floating around to show how unpredictable nature is

• 8    Luke // Jun 2, 2008 at 7:44 pm

  I agree that the early date makes the 2006 prediction not as reliable as it could b. However, tracking seismological activity isn’t just a one-time thing. Scientists track changes seismological activity continuously, and there were probably some very clear signs of an earthquake maybe a week before it happened. The Chinese government is still being a control freak, and valuing power over human life. It is true that the current regime is implementing capitalism to increase China’s financial prosperity, but it’s just a means to their end, which is preservation of (their) power.

  now, if that’s ticked anybody off, then my work is done.

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