Thank Goodness the Pandas Are Safe

I'm not going to criticize the foreign media that much for their coverage of the Sichuan earthquake, but there have been a number of "special interest" stories that focus on Sichuan's panda reserves. The AP even brought it up in an all-inclusive article about the dangerous state of Sichuan's dams, the very large aftershock that struck over the weekend, the miracle 80-year old survivor, and of course, the pandas. At the end of the article where it referred to the pandas, it talks about bamboo being trucked in for them to eat and includes the quote: "The road conditions are very bad and transportation takes much longer than normal. But thank goodness, the worst food crisis is almost over," Zhou said. When people are struggling to find places to sleep and food to eat, this comment about the pandas looks a bit callous, though I know its something on the minds of many foreigners who know Sichuan as the home of the pandas.

We have a lot more to say about the quake and will do it in the next few days, but for now, the NY Times had an extensive article about the "tofu buildings".