Responding to disaster
应对灾难
May 12th 2008 | BEIJING
From Economist.com
An earthquake kills several thousand people in China, as authorities try to react fast
发生在中国的地震已使得数千人遇难，同时官方也迅速组织救灾
ANOTHER natural disaster in another Asian country claims many thousand lives. But the response of China’s government to an earthquake that struck the central Sichuan province on the afternoon of Monday May 12th appears to be strikingly different to that of Myanmar’s brutal regime after its cyclone earlier this month. News of the cyclone took several days to trickle out from Myanmar, where the government’s response has been desperately inadequate. In contrast, details of China’s earthquake are being spread quickly, and the official response has so far been unusually open.
又一场发生在亚洲的天灾夺去了数千生命。但是5月12日周一下午四川省中部地区的地震发生后，中国政府的反应之迅速与残暴的缅甸政权形成鲜明对比，本月早些时候那里曾受到热带风暴的严重侵袭。缅甸政府几天之后才稍微透露了些风暴的消息，而政府的反应也十分令人失望。相反，有关中国地震的详细消息很快就传播开去，而官方的应对也异乎寻常的公开。
Within 12 hours of the massive earthquake in China, the authorities reported that nearly 9,000 people had been killed. They also gave warning that casualty figures are likely to rise. The quake struck at 14:28 local time on Monday, when children were at school and many workers were in their offices and factories. The epicentre was in Wenchuan County, some 90km northwest of the provincial capital of Chengdu.
中国的大地震发生12小时后，官方报道已有大约9000人遇难。他们也给出预报说伤亡人数还会增加。地震发生于当地时间周一14:28，当时孩子们都在学校，工作者们都在他们各自的岗位。震源中心在汶川县，位于四川首府成都市西北方向约90公里处。
Measured at a magnitude of 7.8 by Chinese authorities and at 7.9 by the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake flattened schools and other buildings, interrupted transport, water and telecommunications services, and rattled tall buildings in many of China's largest cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, hundreds of kilometres away. Tremors registering at a magnitude of 3.9 were felt in Beijing, provoking frantic evacuations at office towers throughout the city.
中国官方和美国地质调查局宣布的震级分别为7.8级和7.9级，地震夷平了学校和其他建筑，阻断了交通，供水和通信，晃动了很多大型城市的高层建筑，包括数千公里外的北京和上海。北京所感受到的震动有3.9级，从写字楼内撤出的慌乱人群遍及全城。
China’s central government responded promptly. President Hu Jintao has called for an “all-out” effort to rescue survivors and to provide for the injured. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew to Sichuan within hours of the earthquake, telling state-run media en route that China faced “a major disaster” and calling for “calm” and “courage”. Coming from a government that usually strives to downplay bad news, this is a clear indication of a truly dire situation.
中国中央政府迅速做出反应。胡锦涛主席要求“竭尽全力”去营救生还者和治疗伤者。总理温家宝在地震发生数小时内飞抵四川，他在途中接受中央媒体的采访说中国面对着“一个重大灾难”，还呼吁大家要“镇定”，要有“勇气”。这些从一个向来报喜不报忧的政府中说出，可以清楚的表明现在的情况是多么的可怕。
According to state media, Chinese army units are being deployed to assist with relief work (again in contrast to the ineffective army in Burma). One immediate priority was a site in Juyuan Township, about 100km from the epicentre, where 900 young children were thought to be buried under the rubble of their collapsed three-storey school. Chinese media said cranes were excavating the sites as children cried for help from beneath the detritus and as ambulances waited together with frantic parents.
根据中央媒体报道，中国军队已经展开救援工作（同样与缅甸无效率的军队形成鲜明对比）。当务之急的是位于聚源镇的一个地方，那里900多名孩子被倒塌的三层教学楼掩埋在碎石中。据中国媒体报道，起重机正在废墟中展开挖掘工作，而此时在碎石下，孩子们哭喊求救；在地面上，救护车和情绪失控的家长们在一旁焦急地等待。
China's official Xinhua News Agency reported 8,533 deaths in Sichuan alone, as well as scores more deaths in neighbouring provinces. In Sichuan's Beichuan County, some 80% of buildings were reported to have collapsed. Damage at a chemical plant was also reported, with hundreds of people buried and tonnes of poisonous liquid ammonia released. Train and air services into Chengdu and surrounding areas have been badly disrupted. Telephone services, both fixed line and wireless, have also been damaged.
中国官方新华通讯社报道仅四川省就有8533人遇难，加上邻近的省市将会更多。据报道在四川省北川县，80%的建筑物已经倒塌。报道还称在一个毁坏的化工厂，数百人被掩埋，还有数吨有毒液态氨泄漏。成都和周边地区的铁路和航空运输受到严重影响。电话，电报线路和无线通讯设施也被损坏。
As Beijing prepares to host the summer Olympic Games in less than three months, officials were quick to report that the city's dozens of Olympic venues were built to withstand earthquakes and that none had suffered damage. Authorities also said that no damage was observed at the massive Three Gorges Dam, located on the Yangtze River, several hundred kilometres east of the epicentre. That is just as well. Holding back an enormous reservoir, the dam was built in the face of strong opposition from critics who gave warning, among other things, that it would be vulnerable to earthquake damage that might cause disastrous floods.
因为还有不到三个月北京就要举办夏季奥运会，官方迅速说明了城市里所有奥运比赛场馆都可抗震，而且没有场馆在此次地震中受损。官方还说三峡大坝也无损坏，大坝在长江上，位于震源东向数百公里处。幸好无妨。围阻着一个巨大的水库，三峡大坝建造时就受到了强烈的批评，警告说它易于受到地震的袭击从而导致滔天的大洪水。
China has moved quickly to mobilise, but has yet to respond to offers of foreign aid from the governments of Japan, the Czech Republic and others. Given the magnitude of the disaster, and the likely increase in the death toll, China certainly faces further tests on the efficacy of its response. It may also be troubled by unsettling questions about its level of pre-earthquake preparedness. It is one thing to build dams and Olympic venues to proper standards, but with so many other buildings collapsing particular scrutiny may fall on China's system for setting and enforcing construction codes in earthquake-prone zones such as Sichuan.
中国的救灾动员迅速，但对日本，捷克和其他国家提供的援助还未做出回应。受到如此严重的灾难，死亡人数持续上升，中国的应急反应机制定会受到考验。对防震抗灾准备工作的落实程度让人质疑,这种忧虑可能使中国陷入麻烦。建造一流标准的大坝和奥运场馆是一回事，但如此多的建筑垮塌是另一回事，在譬如四川的地震多发地区制定和强制执行建筑法规，将是中国所要施行的。
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