A massive earthquake struck central China, killing more than 50,000 people and burying alive another 20,000. Government officials issued a rare public appeal for rescue workers and equipment following the quake, which registered 7.9 on the Richter scale.
In spite of all the death and destruction, there were stories of survival that kept hope alive. In the devastated town of Dujiangyan, an all-night search through debris saved a 62-year-old man trapped under his collapsed house. Rescuers and bystanders cheered and took photos with their cell phones as the man was extracted from the rubble. Nearby a 22-year-old woman was pulled to safety after being buried for three long nights. Her rescue was broadcast and cheered on state television. "I was confident that you were coming to rescue me. I’m alive. I’m so happy," the unnamed woman said.
But by Thursday, officials started shifting from search-and-rescue to body recovery.
More Shocking Photos at DailyMail
A cyclone has devastated the country of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), leaving at least 22,000 people dead, 41,000 missing, and up to one million people homeless. The Cyclone Nargis tore through the country’s heartland and biggest city of Yangon early Saturday. Some villages were totally destroyed, and vast rice-growing areas have been wiped out.
Relief efforts in the low-lying Irrawaddy River delta have been difficult, in large part because of the destruction of roads and communications outlets by the storm. Neighbor Thailand sent the first overseas assistance on Tuesday. The United States is expected to contribute millions of dollars to the relief effort.
Based on a United Nations satellite map, the storm’s damage was concentrated over a 11,600-square-mile area along the Andaman Sea. Although this is less than 5 percent of the country’s area, it is home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar’s 57 million people. Images from state television showed massive trees and electric poles shredded across roads and roofless houses submerged in water. "More or less all the landlines are down and it’s extremely difficult to get information from cyclone-affected areas. But from the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened and the final death toll may be huge," said a Myanmar official.
Frustrated residents claim the ruling military junta failed to prepare the country for the impending storm. "The government misled people," said Thin Thin, a grocery story owner in Yangon. "They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared."
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The world’s first stealth fighter, the F-117, is retiring after 27 years of service in the U.S. Air Force. The fighter is retiring to free up money to modernize the fleet with the F-22 Raptor, also a stealth fighter. Fifty-nine F-117s were made; seven have crashed, one in Serbia in 1999.
The F-117 stealth technology was developed in the 1970s to fly into heavily-defended areas undetected and drop its payload with surgical precision. Although not invisible to radar, the F-117’s shape and reflective coating greatly reduced its detection.
An F-117 pilot said, “We knew stealth worked and it would take a lucky shot to hit us, but we knew a lucky shot could hit us at any time.” Incredibly, a stealth fighter has never been shot down.
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In spite of all our differences, the one thing that binds all living creatures is that we each have an expiration date. This finality to our existence is what makes life special, something to be cherished and protected. But occasionally things can go terribly wrong…
