Monday, May 12, 2008

Twitter first to break news on quake... again!



In February, Twitter was first to break news that a quake has struck the UK. Today, at around 3 hours ago, while I was reading my Twitter, Robert Scoble sent a tweet saying that there is a quake in Beijing. The quake, a 7.8 on the Richter Scale actually hit the area in Eastern Sichuan.

When I first read Scoble's tweet, I immediately checked the news websites and blogs for any reports but I couldn't find anything. In fact the first news reports that I saw came out only around 15 minutes later. So there you have it. Twitter has done it again!

For those of you who want the latest info on the China quake, follow casperodj, lyrrael and inwalkedbud on Twitter. These three folks are in China and they are twittering their quake experience. Latest reports say that so far 4 dead and the authorities are warning those in Beijing that a quake will happen there later tonight.

Update:

Beijing quake warning later tonight is false. (Thanks Lord Kimbo)

It's now 5 dead, 100 children injured and many more people were feared injured or dead in Sichuan as many houses had collapsed.

Some photos of the quake here. This one caught my eye: University students evacuate from dormitory after quake. Ok, I understand the need to quickly get out of a building during an earthquake but don't you think these two guys should put on some clothes first?

Numbers looking grimmer and grimmer. 107 dead and 900 students buried in quake.


The latest official toll is 8,533 dead. Expect this number to rise even more when the daylight breaks.

Here's a video taken by a Sichuan University student in his dorm when the quake struck (Thanks Rickie) :



And not forgetting a big hello to all you CNN readers. Thanks for dropping by.

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