Olympics in China

[darlene1029]

Has anyone heard how the disastrous earthquake in China will affect the Olympics?
I can't imagine them recovering soon from amount of destruction and tragedy.
It's very sad. poor people.

[DavidGP]

From the last bit I read on the earthquake and the Olympics is that all the venues for the games are far enough away from zones that could cause earthquake issues.

Li Zhanjun, media director, said that earthquakes had been taken into account when building the 31 venues in Beijing.

And he insisted that the manpower required for the clean-up operation in Sichuan would not impact on the Games' security.

"When constructing any building in Beijing, you have to ensure it is able to resist earthquakes of up to eight on the Richter scale so the Olympic venues will not be in danger from earthquakes," he said.

Source

[darlene1029]

What a terrible picture. I saw on the news where they are rescuing people after a week.
I remember in San Francisco when they were finding people after a week and longer when the bridge collapsed.
In places where earthquakes are prevalent all structures are supposed to be reinforced but a quake of a magnitude of 8 is hard to imagine. The really bad ones in California have been 7 something.
There has also been quakes in Reno recently, 100s is the term they used on the news.

[augiedoggie]

I might be a tad off topic here but Halo's post hit a nerve in me, how come the recently built schools came crashing down? Apparently China is going to investigate if building codes were not followed and possibly execute the contractor if found liable.

Shoddy building practices are rampant over there, I just hope they don't get Egg-Foo-Yung all over their faces for the Olympics and after with that stadium, for the sake of the spectators.

[Phantom]

True, Augie. Had that problem in Italy years ago when a major quake hit. The Mafia and local crooks thought no one would ever notice the shoddy building materials and structures. But in China, they'll likely pay with a bullet, and their family billed for the cost of the bullet.

[Wenchie]

Speaking of this, did anyone see the Opening ceremony? I don't care what you think about China as a country but the opening ceremony was AWE inspiring. It was absolutely the best ever and anyone else is going to have a hell of a time topping that.

When the chinese team came out at the end of the parade of Nations the assistant flag bearer was a child from that school collapse who dug himself out of the rubble and went back to help save two of his class mates "because he was a hall monitor and a student leader, it was his responsibility to go back." Why can't children over here have values like THAT.

Oh and did anyone see the shot of predident douche during the parade of nations where he was bouncing his knee and looking at his watch because he was so bored? Jack ***.

[augiedoggie]

Yes Wenchie, it was a fantastic show! A 500 foot LCD screen on the floor, whatever kind of screen they had going around the whole stadium along with the 20K+ people/performers that did a magnificent job of portraying their history in chronological order. The fireworks were great too (which sort of took a back seat to everything else IMO), BTW, this deserves a thread of its own! I've watched it twice already. BTW, for those who can't get it, Getting your Olympics fix online, I haven't tried any of this.

[prometheos]

I did see it Wenchie and it was AMAZING. As you've suggested, it's unlikely to be topped by any single country in our lifetimes. They spent the equivalent in billions in $US dollars for these games - coupled with their ballooning military spending, I think this is the signal that China is in it's ascension and they will have the ability to begin having most of their diplomatic suggestions succeed.

We should all start being really, really nice to the Chinese now. As soon as they realise just how massive they have become, it would be prudent to be on their buddies list. Instead of annoying them with the 'Free Tibet' distraction, convince them, that they need to persuade Iran to behave themselves, and that China has a responsibility to maintain stability in the region. After all, they need that Iranian oil more than we do, so convince them to do a little diplomatic work for it.

[mcadam]

Yes I saw it and we're gonna have a very hard time trying to match that in 2012. It was fantastic.

[dc57]

I saw the opening ceremony too and thought it was awesome! I've never seen anything quite like that. Visually stunning.