Ruined Beichuan Starts Anew
NPR’s Melissa Block was in Sichuan a year ago when the earthquake struck. She revisited the area recently and reported on how people in the area are coping one year on. From NPR:
The plan is for the old, abandoned Beichuan to be turned into a memorial site and attraction. Tourists will be able to visit a quake museum and walk through the city wreckage.
Old Beichuan is surrounded on all sides by high mountains — beautiful, but lethal in the end.
The new Beichuan will be built on an absolutely flat river plain, 15 miles south. Right now the new site is just a broad, open field stretching away toward the distant mountains.
NPR also has a multimedia presentation, China Earthquake: A Year Of Recovery, here.
An Amnesty International report released this week says that the Chinese government intimidated parents in Sichuan in the aftermath of the quake, reports CNN:
The 52-page report, released Sunday and titled “Justice Denied: Harassment of Sichuan Earthquake Survivors and Activists,” documented instances where parents and relatives said they had been detained for up to 21 days for trying to get answers from officials about their children’s deaths.
Origin: Melissa Block, NPR
