The Catastrophic Quake

A Chinese proverb has it that “heaven is high and the emperor is far away.” Beijing responded swiftly to the catastrophe to prove this saying wrong.

Premier Wen - a geologist by training, was at the scene of the earthquake in Dujiangyan, 15 miles from the epicenter, within 6 hours.

Did you know how long it took U.S. President Bush to visit the devastation of Hurricane Katrina? 4 days. Relatively impressive as it seems but...halt.

Although Wen and his military arm's swift response represented a genuine effort to rush aid to those in need, will he and local governments care to address the underlying issues of irresponsible construction and uncontrolled growth that may have indirectly led to the deaths of scores of children in Dujiangyan school, built only 10 years ago?

I read an analyst commenting the economic impact being limited, because the epicenter of the quake, Wenchuan county of Sichuan province has limited industrial and agriculture production.

For crying out loud, how about the ever-increasing death toll reported? They could have been the pillars of China's future economy!

If economic growth remains the standard by which Chinese political decisions are measured, I think the government must find itself engaged in a perpetual clean-up mission before anything else.