Word: reliefs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...conference this week, a journalist from the state-run China Daily asked why so many schools were destroyed by the tremor, while government buildings seemed comparatively intact. "It was not just schools that collapsed, but because children were buried we pay close attention to that," replied Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief director for the Ministry of Civil Affairs. "But in Beichuan county the civil administration building collapsed, and there were possibly casualties. The government buildings aren't all that firm." Still, online message boards teemed with demands for answers as to why so many schools were destroyed. "After the disaster...
President Hu Jintao called for an "all-out" response, and the government rallied some 100,000 relief workers, including military, police and medical teams. Premier Wen Jiabao flew to Sichuan, and state-owned television showed him rallying rescue forces, even venturing into the ruins to urge victims still trapped in the rubble to "hold on a little longer." It's hard to know how much the tragedy will change China, but this much is certain: with the media allowed unprecedented freedom to report the humanitarian effort, the Chinese will be able to judge their leaders' performance as never before...
...step in to control emotional crowds of victims' relatives. Through the night, loudspeaker-equipped trucks cruised the streets, appealing for calm: "The State Council, the Central Committee, the Sichuan, Chengdu and Dujiangyan governments are trying their best to help. Earthquakes are not something that mankind can avoid." But relief operations can still be bungled, and Beijing knows it can't afford that this time...
According to the US military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the danger of more storms hitting the region in Myanmar most severely damaged by the cyclone that struck on May 3 has not yet passed. Equally disconcerting is the little relief granted to the people of the region since the cyclone wreaked havoc, as the Burmese government is currently restricting large-scale international aid. The junta—the ruling government in Myanmar—has refused offers from the United States and other nations to send in search-and-rescue teams, food, and other crucial aid. With...
Volunteers make all sides of the debate uncomfortable. Death penalty supporters are uneasy with the idea that some prisoners may see their death sentence as a relief from a tortured life. Anti-death penalty activists are discomfited by anyone who doesn't want their solidarity, much less their legal help. The courts don't want their appeals process short-circuited by the inmates' suicidal ideations...