Saturday, April 27, 2013

Sichuan Mourns for the Dead in the Earthquake, Only Numbers, No Names

Students mourn for those who died in a 7.0-magnitude quake a week ago, at Lushan Middle School in Lushan County. Photo: Xinhua

Today Sichuan Province mourned the dead victims in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake which struck a week ago. The public mourning began with the sound of sirens at 8:02 AM exactly the moment when the earthquake took place one week ago, then followed three minutes' silent remembrance.

The earthquake so far has killed 196 people, left 21 missing and injured more than 13,000, according to state media.

However, state media only announced 196 dead, but refused to announce the names of the dead people. No one knows who actually the dead people are, nor their personal/family conditions. The name-list of the dead people seems to be taken as a national secret, and normal people have no access to the information. This is a tradition of Chinese propaganda.

In contrast, Japan announced daily the updated names of the dead people confirmed in case of earthquakes.

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