Eric's Beijing Diary

Claire came into MSN yesterday and asked me if I had felt the earthquake. I told her that I hadn't felt it, because I was in Beihai when it happened. She said, "No. Today. There was an earthquake today." Hmmm....must have been riding my bike at the time.

This morning, I turned on the BBC, and heard about the earthquake in Sichuan. So the little tremor felt in Beijing wasn't just a small Beijing quake, it was a very large readjustment on the other side of the country. The biggest problem in rural areas is that buildings are not earthquake proof. In Japan, they put buildings on ball bearings so that they can slide if the earth moves. I think this earthquake may effect a greater move in that direction by China. But the other thing about buildings in China is that they seem to be 100% concrete. Like the one I live in. Man, you better have solid granite bedrock to erect a building that heavy! It's all concrete. Not sure why. I do see a lot of buildings going up now that are basically steel girders with glass window walls in between. But the building I live in is just concrete stacked on concrete. I would really hate to be in that thing if the old earth under Beijing got up and shook itself off.