One thing that is constant around the world is the occurrence of natural disasters. Every occurrence, thousands or millions of peoples lives are affected. Many die. Many are left homeless. Many are seriously injured. Many are permanently handicapped. Still, many are left without a child or a parent. Our world is full of disasters, and China has unfortunately had a large share. Below is a listing of the top ten natural disasters around the world:
| Rank | Event | Location | Death Toll (Estimate) |
| 1 | 1931 China floods | China | 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 |
| 2 | 1887 Yellow River flood | China | 900,000 to 2,000,000 |
| 3 | 1556 Shaanxi earthquake | Shaanxi, China | 830,000 |
| 4 | 1970 Bhola cyclone | Bangladesh | 500,000 |
| 5 | 1839 India Cyclone | India | 300,000 |
| 6 | 526 Antioch earthquake | Byzantine (Turkey) | 250,000 to 300,000 |
| 7 | 1976 Tangshan earthquake | Hebei, China | 242,419 |
| 8 | 1920 Haiyuan earthquake | China | 234,117 |
| 9 | 2004 Indonesian Tsunami | Southeast Asia | 230,210 |
| 10 | 2010 Haiti earthquake | Haiti | 230,000 |
(source: Wikipedia.org)
The May 12, 2008 Richter scale 8.0 Sichuan earthquake with 85,000+ deaths didn’t even make this list. Given China’s huge population throughout her history, we’d expect China to be on it. Still, half of the top ten were in China. Predicting earthquake and controlling flood were common themes throughout Chinese history. We simply hope that China continues to develop so that the population have the means to better withstand future natural disasters. (Western media constantly criticize China’s Three Gorges Dam project, but they purposely avoid explaining control flood as one of the primary reasons.)
Only a couple of months ago, an earthquake hit Haiti, killing 230,000 people. On April 14, 2010, a Richter scale 7.1 earthquake hit China’s Qinghai province, killing 2,000+ people. These are recent reminders of the constant nature of natural disasters.
During times of disaster, we also see perseverance and outpouring of humanity from all elements of society. (Allen’s translation: “Chinese Humanitarian Chen Guang Biao and Fellow Air Travellers Donate to Earthquake Victims“) We see love and compassion expressed across national borders. The very least we can do is to encourage that.
The purpose of this post is to remind ourselves that natural disasters are a constant around the world. On the whole, China is still an extremely poor country. Infrastructure has not caught up to a point where the population is well protected from natural disasters. For example, the destruction of homes in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake left so many people dead. The purpose of this post is also to collect links to charity organizations who make it their purpose in life to help funnel aid to the victims and survivors of natural disasters in China.
(Over time we plan to add more links, especially those organizations who are more directly funneling assistance to people in China.)
We urge you to assist these organizations in helping those victims in getting back on their feet. Even small amounts are grand gestures and can be uplifting.
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中国红十字会 Red Cross Society of China 
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中国扶贫基金会 China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation 
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天使妈妈 Angel Mom 
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中国紧急救援联盟 China Emergency Rescue Alliance 
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YinYang says
Yushu Earthquake Response
“Yushu Earthquake Response is a small coalition of local grassroots NGOs from Qinghai – including Snowland Service Group, Tsongkha Charitable Association, Sanchuan Development Association, Friend of Rural Community Development, Shem Women’s Group, and the Pentok Institute – and numerous volunteers. We’re working to create a bridge between the affected area and individuals and organizations wishing to offer assistance. We’re working under government guidance to assess urgent needs and get help where it is needed as soon as possible.”
Erik Nilsson says
CHINA DAILY INTEREST IN COVERING YOUR QUAKE-RECOVERY PROJECTS
Hello,
My name is Erik Nilsson, and I am a reporter for China’s No 1 foreign-language newspaper, China Daily, specializing in NGO and disaster relief reporting. I am contacting you because I will soon be heading to Yushu, Qinghai province, (around April 2) and Sichuan province (around May 2) to cover the post-quake recovery in these areas for the coming anniversaries of the earthquakes in these areas and am interested in publicizing some of your work for the recovery. I will be in each province for about one week.
Ideally, I would hope to visit some of the sites in which you are operating projects so as to be able to provide our readership with a firsthand account and put human faces on the good work you are doing to assist the recovery in these quake zones. One way to think of it is that such publicity would normally cost hundreds of thousands of yuan if you were to purchase an ad, while this is free publicity for your work, which will hopefully in the end benefit the communities in which you operate.
While every story is different, here is a link to a story born out of cooperation with Oxfam that the organization said was very helpful to their work and fundraising to give you some idea of the kind of coverage that might be possible: (Success by consensus: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/2010-02/10/content_11015836.htm)
I need to finalize and present an interview/travel plan to my editors as soon as possible, and so would appreciate it if you could let me know as soon as possible if you would be interested in cooperating during these time frames.
Also, if you have any other projects in the future, please let me know.
I can be reached at [email protected], [email protected] and (86-10) 135 22 731 848.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and for the great fieldwork you do, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Best wishes,
Erik
NEO says
NEO asteroid size Texas flyby 2011-2012 causes China Tsunami…estimated arrival is either
Nov 8, 2011 with 75% chance or 100% chance before Dec 31, 2012. Tsunami will cause 2 to 4 million victims. Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong will be hit. Jaingsu down to Philippines is the width of the wave. So good time to go to europe vaction around nov 8 or if does not happen then within those next 14 months before end of Dec 2012 is will happen, exact date unknown. But is your grandchilds life worth another 14 months in the danger zone? So you have been warned,…if you chose to ignore like you did with sichuan its your own fault.
raventhorn2000 says
@NEO
Care to share the factual data behind your “warning”?
It’s a bit hard to swallow someone’s “warnings” when it’s not accompanied by any evidence.
NEO says
@NEO
By the end of Dec 2012 100% chance
evidence equals do query search on epoch time sichuan earthquake quashed rumour
query that and you will find the track record, its a 2 part event
part one = sichuan earthquake part two event is neo 2011-2012
sorry no exact date just the 2 year time range, because too many variables.
zack says
so the good people at Epoch times have peered into the entrails of some hapless goat and divined some sort of “divine retribution” on China eh;
tell me, what have the Turks done to offend the Falun Dafa considering they’ve been heavily afflicted by some deadly earthquakes this past yr? not kissing the hem of the robe of the grand poobah of the falun dafa?
Charles Liu says
@NEO
Well, there was a near miss with asteroid on 11/9, but it’s not Texas sized.