<DIV>Hi , I have likewise been trawling everything I can find. The Big PAnda reserve which is very close by, is totally out of contact. Wenchuan, which is the epicentre seems to be the next door county. Roads are impassable there, and 80% of buildings are down there. QingChengShan seems to be in the national park near the town in the next county, where four or five schools and a hospital are down, with a lot of dead and injured. From what I can make out, it is only a few tens of kilometers away from the epicentre. I have just read that the main railway line to the north east is damaged, stranding 10,000 people - possibly Jesse amongst them. HAving studied Google Earth for the last couple of hours, I think the area where the roads are cut off by landslides MAY, only MAY be in or around the area. Can't be sure of that.
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<DIV>Oddly, my passport has disappeared in the post. The post office has been searching for it since Thursday. It was en route back from the Chinese embassy with my visa in it. It is now being presumed lost or stolen. If it doesn't turn up, I will apply for a new passport, but think I can be pretty sure that I will not be re-issued with a visa for the area now. It may be that it is not so easy for any of us to get there. But, we are also blessed that it did not happen three weeks from now.....</DIV>
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<DIV>My heart and prayers, like all of us, I am sure, are with everyone who has been touched by the tragedy. </DIV>
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<DIV>Jesse emailed me on Sunday night and said be would be leaving the north to travel to Chengdu, and that it would be a two day journey on the train.. So it is definite that he was not yet in the area...which is another blessing.</DIV>
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<DIV>Somehow I feel this will touch us all with a sense of immediacy........</DIV>
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<DIV>Love in the Tao, Muriel</DIV><BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">----- Original Message -----<BR>From: "Isaac Freeman" <ISAAC.FREEMAN@GMAIL.COM><BR>To: "QiGong Dragon Sect" <WAG@EUGENEWEB.COM><BR>Subject: [WAG] The Quake.<BR>Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 13:07:05 -0700<BR><BR>
<DIV>Hey guys!</DIV>
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<DIV>I've read everything I can find on the net today, and watched the little information that is being broadcasted on the news channels about the quake in China.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I know Chengdu's aiport has cancelled it's flights, but thinks it will be operating soon. (Not sure what that means) The aiport website shows all of the flights being cancelled since 2pm when the quake hit.</DIV>
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<DIV>I can't make out how far west or northish the earthquake traveled, as only a few areas are named.</DIV>
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<DIV>It's seems like Qing Cheng Shan is close enough that it may have been affected, but it's too difficult to say with the information I have.</DIV>
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<DIV>Aparently roads out of Chengdu are pretty seriously affected, but can't find clear information, as I imagine the information is still being collected.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I've heard Jesse was/is on a train to Chengdu, but was most likely far enough away still that he would be safe.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jesse when you get this, send us an update as to how things look.</DIV>
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<DIV>My heart and prayer goes out to the people in Sichuan province. </DIV>
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<DIV>My flight leaves in 16 days, this is certainly a pretty serious turn of events.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Attached is google map wth the co-ordinates of qing cheng shan in comparison to chengdu. (Seems like 50km in a flight path).
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<P>30.96667</P></TD>
<TD>103.51667</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV>
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<DIV>If anyone finds any information about sites affected, or quake zone mappings please let me know.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><< ChengDuQingChengShan.JPG >><BR><< ChengDuQingChengShan.JPG >><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>WAG mailing list<BR>WAG@eugeneweb.com<BR>http://eugeneweb.com/mailman/listinfo/com.eugeneweb.wag<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR>