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YINCHUAN, Ningxia: I was placing my recorder on the desk of deputy mayor Li
Weidong when I heard the woman behind me murmuring "I feel dizzy". Another one
joined her: "Me too." Then they both said: "It's an earthquake!"
By that time, I could clearly feel the swaying of the building. It was
gentle and rhythmic. I said "gentle" because half an hour earlier, when the
plane I took was touching down at Yinchuan Airport, it hit turbulence, which
sent my head spinning and I had not totally recovered from it.
As one who went through the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, I quickly gauged
that the tremor, as felt in Yinchuan, should register at about 5 on the Richter
scale. It turned out to be a quake rolled to Yinchuan some 900 km away from the
epicenter in Sichuan province.
The man accompanying me said: "Everyone stay calm! This building can
withstand an 8-magnitude tremor. Don't worry!"
The 16-story city hall of Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous
region, was newly built. I was on the 15th floor, waiting to interview the
deputy mayor.
The swaying lasted a good 30 seconds before my host got anxious. "Let's
take off," he said.
When we reached the stairs, I still felt a bit of motion sickness, but
could not tell whether it was getting better or worse as there was a column of
staff descending the stairs and the pace was hurried but orderly.
Cell phone signals were not available for some 10 minutes, and then
everyone started making calls. |
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发表于 2016-7-9 23:48:49