Global Voices Online » Development

Bahrain: Leaving Home

Amira Al Hussaini — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:37:47 +0000

Life in Bahrain is not impressed with a new increase in housing lending - as real estate prices in Bahrain hit the ceiling - and announces that he has found a job abroad and is leaving the country soon.

Trinidad & Tobago: Press Conference Gone Awry

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:00:01 +0000

“Anyone who saw today's Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago press conference…must now be clear of one thing…this country is in serious trouble”: Trinidad and Tobago girls, politics, sports, technology, carnival, and lifestyle is unimpressed with the behaviour of a Senator, while Jumbie's Watch adds: “Here is a man receiving money from the government, for sitting on the board of a government owned company, and standing in parliament pretending to be independent.”

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan: Shake Down, Shake Up

Adil Nurmakov — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:32:57 +0000

Patrick Frost tells that the Tajikistan government tries to impose a voluntary tax on its citizens to raise $10 million dollars to finance the Rogun project, while the Kyrgyz government has given a compensation payment to 72 children, who were accidentally infected with the AIDS in hospitals.

Tajikistan: Poor country's most expensive trial

Vadim Sadonshoev — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:25:12 +0000

The poorest country in Central Asia, Tajikistan initiated the most expensive trial in the history of British legal proceedings. Tajikistan will pay 120 million USD for the legal fees which represents 5,2 percent of the country’s entire GDP. A bone of contention is the Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco), fully owned by the state. The Tajik side accused its partners of fraud. (more…)

Lithuania, Spain: “Sevilnius”

Veronica Khokhlova — Tue, 13 May 2008 22:47:16 +0000

Babel in Vilnius compares the Lithuanian capital with Seville.

Kyrgyzstan: A Slow Time

Elena Skochilo — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:56:24 +0000

The May month traditionally comes to Kyrgyzstan with the holiday days. 1st May is the Labor Day, 5th May is the Constitution’s Day and on 9th May Kyrgyzstan celebrates Victory’s day. These day the life of Kyrgyzstan is rather quiet and slow.

On 1st May, the Communist’s party held the short meeting at the Old Square in Bishkek. There were a lot of people who held the portraits of Lenin and the old soviet flags. It was really strange demonstration, because the communists also hung the scarecrow of the president of USA George Bush during the meeting.

Lj-user Lvenks even called [ru] this demonstration as “a parade of the insane”.

(more…)

Dubai: Whales and Planktons

Amira Al Hussaini — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:17:50 +0000

Jordanian blogger Sha3teely is in Dubai for a few days and shares his feelings and some photographs in this post. “This trip simply showed me how much poor, unimportant, dispensable and small creature I am… it showed me how big is the world and how far are we. It showed me that there are whales and planktons… I am no more than a tiny plankton..” he writes.

China: 7.8 scale earthquake felt across most of China

John Kennedy — Mon, 12 May 2008 08:57:55 +0000

Around two hours ago, an earthquake registering 7.8 on the Richter scale struck in southwestern China's Sichuan province, centered in Wenchuan county, and with tremors felt as far away as Beijing and Hong Kong.

Update, Tuesday 9am: QQ has been aggregating video shot by its users from many of the affected areas; many of these videos can be seen here. The video below comes from user Gary, taken in an unspecified location:

The earthquake was reportedly felt in Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, parts of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu, Henan, Ningxia and Jiangsu.

See below for updates by region.

From Chinese video-sharing website Tudou, user danta1990's footage taken in the Sichuan capital Chengdu:

Danwei has already compiled a number of updates from various sources, as has Shanghaiist, with information on user-shot video from Sichuan Chinese video portal websites were quick to get up on their front pages.

This clip on 56.com comes from user Little Fish in Wenchuan, Sichuan:

And this from video sharing website Youku.com comes from user xiaoyu82528, showing the effect of the earthquake as felt as far away as Beijing:

Twitter seems to be a top source of breaking details for the moment; Many are writing of difficulties connecting to those at the center of the quake zone over telephone, but the internet seems to still be functioning. Beijing-based tech guru Kaiser Kuo writes that the government Seismological Bureau website is currently inaccessible, presumably from high levels of traffic.

Users inwalkedbud and Lyrrael have been posting updates in English, reporting what they can. River Crab Goes Ashore has been collecting live updates on Chinese microblogging service provider Fanfou.

Inwalkedbud writes from Chengdu, quite near the center of the earthquake: “Doesn't seem to be much damage to buildings, but people are shaken up. Electricity/water/gas seems to be working still.”

Other areas have not been as fortunate; Chinese Twitter user Raine, based in Hubei, writes of possible destruction there:

同事刚电话回家，湖北的荆州、沙市的房子倒了一片，有灾情。

One colleague just phoned home to Jingzhou in Hubei, houses in Shashi have collapsed, it's a disaster there.

Also via Danwei is a note to keep following Summize.com, one Twitter search engine which supports Chinese characters, for steady updates; updates found via Summize and other places will be added here as they are found. Photos can be seen on Flickr via searches for ‘earthquake' in English and Chinese and on Yupoo.com.

Anyone with more information regarding other areas around China that have been affected is invited to gives us a heads-up in the comments.

Microblog updates by region:
Sichuan
Photos of the devastation in ~~Jiangyan, Jiangsu province~~Dujiangyu, one of the hardest-hit places known so far. Several portray dead bodies.

Monday 21:52 http://jiwai.de/IQ%E5%B0%8F%E5%AD%90/statuses/8802456

“English”语言的维基百科“List of earthquakes”词条中已经增加了此次四川大地震的内容,此外该语言已经新增了“2008 Sichuan Province earthquake”的词条。中文维基百科尚无相关内容更新。

The English-language ‘list of earthquakes' entry already has information on this Sichuan earthquake, and on top of that there's even a “2008 Sichuan Province earthquake” entry. Chinese Wikipedia still has no related information.

Monday 22:40 http://jiwai.de/doggienest/statuses/8803411

往成都固定电话打通了

Home phones in Chengdu can receive calls now

http://fanfou.com/statuses/g2QgIe8OWzM
Monday 22:25 http://ledao.in/blog.php?blog_id=156

汶川是去九寨沟的必经之路，那里山势陡峭，地表植被因过度开采受损，而岷江流经此地，造成水土流失严重，是个容易发生地质灾害的地方，这次惨了。

Wenchuan is on the way to Jiuzaigou; the terrain there is all craggy mountains. Due to excess ore extraction all surface plants have been damaged and then you have the Min River passing through there, creating great risk of mudslides and making this an easy place for geological disasters to happen. This has been tragic.

四川大学要求同学离开宿舍通知4点余震开始

Sichuan University has ordered all students out of dorms, saying aftershocks to being at 4pm

https://twitter.com/shizhao/statuses/809213970

据说四川地区CDMA，小灵通可以打通

Sounds like CDMA and local network phones are working in the Sichuan region

https://twitter.com/niubi/statuses/809205236

chengdu airport closed. flights heading there beijing redirectede to chongqing

https://twitter.com/guiyinzhang/statuses/809162622
Monday 5:30 pm: https://twitter.com/Aether/statuses/809193571

成都互联网通讯有能连上的了。

The internet is connected in Chengdu

http://fanfou.com/statuses/l6XlCAxBJCI

绵阳花盆啥的都碎了，饮水机震倒说塌了好多房子，人都到河堤上去了

Flowerpots and everything are broken in Mianyang, water coolers shaking, many houses have collapsed, everybody has gone to the banks of the river.

http://fanfou.com/statuses/aOdJ1I6y1YU

四川阿坝州理县县城1人死亡8人重伤汶川县发生7.8级地震后，截止12日17时10分，阿坝州政府应急办了解到的情况是：汶川、理县、茂县交通、通讯全面中断，黑水、小金、金川、马尔康、松潘、九寨沟等县均有房屋倒塌、道路中断、山体滑坡、人员伤亡(其中茂县林业电台报告伤亡人员较多，

One dead and eight seriously hurt in Lixian County, Abazhou, Sichuan. At 5:10pm government issued urgent notice, traffic and communications completely cut off in Wenchuan, Lixian and Maoxian; houses have collapsed and roads cut off and persons injured by mountain run-off in Heishui, Xiaojin, Ma'erkang, Songfan and Jiuzaigou,

Beijing
https://twitter.com/flypig/statuses/809127403

中国南北网络断了吗？怎么啥都上不去了？

Has the China internet backbone been cut? Why can't I get online?

https://twitter.com/imagethief/statuses/809121832
https://twitter.com/kaiserkuo/statuses/809123623
https://twitter.com/kaiserkuo/statuses/809124220
https://twitter.com/Tangos/statuses/809124276
https://twitter.com/niubi/statuses/809132301
https://twitter.com/fuzheado/statuses/809131321
photo https://twitter.com/flypig/statuses/809135452

Shanghai
https://twitter.com/nocas/statuses/809139803
https://twitter.com/casperodj/statuses/809196553
https://twitter.com/leoshcn/statuses/809195725

Shaanxi
https://twitter.com/yesky12/statuses/809191510
https://twitter.com/QienKuen/statuses/809199223

只能和西安那边发短信，电话打不进去。。

I can only text with people in Xi'an, can't get through by phone…

Henan
Monday 21:39 http://jiwai.de/jiangyh/statuses/8802154

15时48分，河南省地震局通过手机短信、电视、广播等形式，向群众发布震情提示：“地震台网测定今天14：28四川汶川发生7.8级地震，震感波及我省，不会影响正常生活，请不要恐慌，本局正关…

At 3:48 pm the Henan Seismological Bureau sent out a warning to the public through mobile phone text message, television and radio: “The Seismological Station Web has determined that at 2:28 today a 7.8 scale earthquake took place in Wenchuan, Sichuan; the earthquake shocks have affected our province, but will not affect day-to-day life, please do not panic, the Bureau is looking into this…”

http://fanfou.com/statuses/O8h2ttRuQJ8

郑州国家电网公司的大楼都疏散到空地了

The State Power Grid Tower in Zhengzhou has been evacuated

Jiangxi
http://fanfou.com/statuses/7bjUhAwYzH8

Anhui
https://twitter.com/seekDench/statuses/809183753

Guangdong
Monday 21:19 http://fanfou.com/statuses/LhifhcSKPXw

76年的唐山地震马上就被翻出。现在全国最忙碌最紧张最加班加点的部门不是地震局，不是救灾队，是中宣部

Soon this will have been bigger than the 1976 Tangshan earthquake. Right now the busiest most nervous department putting in the most extra shifts isn't the Seismological Bureau, not the Disaster Relief Squads, it's the Central Propaganda Department

Zhejiang
https://twitter.com/Fenng/statuses/809127914

杭州网络正常。公司大部分同事都跑到外面去了。

The internet is functioning normally in Hangzhou. Most people in the office here have gone outside.

http://fanfou.com/statuses/k0jIs0Mkmz8

浙江嘉兴、上海间发生5.7级地震暂无人员伤亡

5.7 earthquake between Jiaxing in Zhejiang province and Shanghai. Nobody injured at present.

http://fanfou.com/statuses/nOwacdhRpdA
宁波世贸中心大楼倾斜3度！！！！！！！！！！！！
The World Trade Center in Ningbo has tilted 3 degrees!!!!!!!!

Chongqing
https://twitter.com/Tangos/statuses/809188431
https://twitter.com/shizhao/statuses/809211439

重庆2小学倒塌，4学生死亡

Two primary schools in Chongqing have collapsed, four students dead

Changsha
http://twitter.com/dadi007/statuses/809209238

Guangxi
http://fanfou.com/statuses/8lgMEGMOzUE

Hubei
Wuchang: http://twitter.com/lenvow/statuses/809197185

湖北多地有地震震感武昌出现手机信号盲区

Many places in Hubei felt the earthquake; Wuchang is experiencing cellphone blind zones.

Uzbekistan: Unwanted Changes

Tolkun — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:22:57 +0000

After the disintegration of the USSR, the Soviet communist identity and ideology ceased to exist and the new countries confronted the vital problems of defining new identities and ideologies. Most of the ex-Soviet countries were quick to give up the past and embrace the new life with new national values and ideas. Uzbekistan was one of the few countries where a process of defining a new identity and setting up new national values went in a very rapid manner.

The changing cultural and political atmosphere was first reflected throughout Uzbekistan through renaming of squares, streets and parks from Soviet-type names into symbols of either independence or national identity. All Soviet monuments were dismantled, being replaced with the heroes of Uzbek history. For the last two weeks, the Uzbek blogosphere discussed changes that were happenning in the post-Soviet period in Uzbekistan. (more…)

Fiji: Blog Roundup

Preetam Rai — Sun, 11 May 2008 17:33:56 +0000

Failedparadise carries a round-up of Fijian blogosphere with links to notable posts from the last two weeks.

Armenia: Charity Football Match

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 11 May 2008 07:39:10 +0000

Dominic in Armenia, a Peace Corps Blog, posts photographs of a charitable football match recently held in Yerevan with the involvement of international aid workers and under-privileged local children. The blog says the women's team was the most impressive and changed the perception of many local Armenians towards gender and sport.

Sri Lanka: Creating wealth

Neha Viswanathan — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:36:16 +0000

Deane's Dimension takes a look at the issue of poverty, and writes that the question is not how poverty can be reduced, but how wealth can be created.

Caucasus: Subjective Well-being

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:45:20 +0000

Social Science in the Caucasus, the blog of the Caucasus Resource Research Centers, looks at the the subjective well-being of citizens living in all three South Caucasus republics. Although the data used for the survey is from 2006, the survey finds that the impact of poverty and unemployment is more significant than in other former Soviet countries such as Ukraine and Russia.

Japan: Demographics

Oiwan Lam — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:53:53 +0000

Ampontan blogs about government and private sector's plan for meeting the demographic challenge.

Cape Verde: On the possibility of adopting the Euro

Paula Góes — Thu, 08 May 2008 09:59:20 +0000

Virgílio Brandão [pt] ponders on the pros and cons of the adoption of the Euro as a currency in Cape Verde. “The country must have a clear picture of its response to problems that would arise from this, and must gain more benefits than difficulties. The population will appreciate it”.