One Year Since the Sichuan Earthquake of 2008

On May 12, 2008, Sichuan Province’s mountainous villages suffered an 8-magnitude earthquake. The quake claimed the lives of nearly 70,000 people, injured 375,000 and left millions homeless. At the epicenter, Beichuan County lost 21,000 residents, or two-thirds of its population. The county, closed since the quake, was re-opened on Sunday, May 10, for former residents and families to pay tribute to their lost loved-ones.
While the people of the affected area try to get back on their feet, disaster tourism has begun in response to (apparently) enormous demand. I read recently in the Shanghai Daily about the Wenchuan Earthquake Museum in Dayi County that opened in advance of the anniversary. The museum cost US$4.39 million and includes all kinds of tokens from the disaster including a loudspeaker that Premier Wen Jiabao used when he visited the site and the Coca-Cola can from which a little boy, whose first request after being pulled from the rubble was a drink of Coke, sipped. There is an earthquake simulation room that includes smell-effects from a “harmless gas with the same odor as air emanating from earthquake ruins,”.

The Wenchuan Earthquake Museum should not be confused with the National Earthquake Ruins Museum that will present Beichuan County’s destruction. This US$336 million dollar museum and park’s plans have just been unveiled and won’t be open for another four years.

I have to question disaster tourism and all this money being spent on museums and monuments when people are still suffering, still living in temporary housing, still searching for missing people. Of course, if these museums bring people who care, who donate and spend needed tourist money, then I suppose there is some good. In any case, take a moment on May 12, 2009, to remember the victims of the Sichuan Earthquake.

Photo: A Beichuan quake survivor pauses as he tries to find family members in the rubble in the quake ravaged town, May 15, 2008 in Beichuan, Sichuan province, China. (Photo Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

From Sara's China Travel Blog
By Sara Naumann