Its about 8:18 am on March 4, 2010. You've just woke up, and picked up your Chinese book to review the 56 new words you need to learn for today. As your sitting there trying to decipher the pinyin, you feel a ripple along your bed...but it seems to go away quickly. Seconds after, you see things moving around and feel the earth quake beneath you. Frightened, you sit and wait, praying that this isn't a repeat of the recent Haiti and Chile disasters. You hold your breath.
On September 12, 1999, Taiwan suffered a major earthquake (measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale) that killed over 2000 people and injured an additional 8000 citizens. The epicenter was located near Guangfu Elementary School. Luckily, the earthquake occurred at 1:47 am, or hundreds of children would have contributed to the death toll.
The picture above was taken when I, along with a group of Millikin faculty and students, visited the 921 Earthquake Museum in August 2009.
Yikes! That makes me ever-mindful that our home state sits right on one of the more significant fault lines in the country!
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