Day 10 May 21 2008, Wednesday

Death toll: 41, 353
Injury toll: 274, 683
Missing toll: 32, 666

Pandas in the Wolong Reserve are changing their diets to adapt to the crisis.

The diet of China's giant pandas are notoriously exclusive to bamboo shoots but it seems the earthquake has made them more malleable to trying other foods. On average a panda consumes 10 to 18 kg of bamboo shoots a day but with the shortage in the reserve, they have been fed and are eating rice porridge and apples as well.

Officials are taking care of the pandas which had been evacuated from other parts of the affected province, the country's main panda conservation sites. They say a lot of the cubs appear to have been traumatised by the quake. The keepers at the reserve have been holding them in their arms, talking to them, calling them by name and generally trying to calm them down. The cubs are said to be holding on tight, not willing to let go of their human guardians.

Photo


A 102-year-old lady Wang Wenxiu has miraculously survived, after being rescued on the 20th of May from the rubble. Her situation has stabilised after doctors treated her at the hospital but is still suffering from fractures. Together with her was Zhang Xueyun, herself 90 years old.

Live report


VIDEO OF THE DAY

There is a sentimentality among the Chinese beneath their stoic appearances that is rarely shown to outsiders and sometimes lost in translation. But it is there in their literature, their songs, their poetry, their hearts.

Also seldom seen, the individuals that make up the People's Liberation Army. Powerful in their numbers, usually expressionless, in the process of carrying out their current mission in Sichuan, they showed that they are more than just a faceless force.





20 seconds into the start of the video, a message reads,

“Every photo, every word, is a tear.
We will record all of this, to remember those who died,
to thank the people who used every way to show love and concern,
and most of all to tell those who survived,

'Your homes are gone, but you still have 1.3 billion loved ones.
At this moment,
we are all Sichuanese.'”

And the harp, the piano, the bagpipes play on, to images of a male TV commentator moved to tears, rescuers carrying those injured to safety, those trapped in crevices, those mourning, those surviving...

The lyrics

Wings in the dark

After the dark night, and the sun will rise
After the storm, there will be sunny weather
Let us move forward hand in hand
The rainbow is in our hearts.

The journey of life will see winds and rain
Use the tears to nurture the courage of life
Use hope, turn it into wings in the wind
Let dreams take away all sorrow.

You accompanied me through tall mountains and great seas
My heart sings only with you
I will give up all my stubbornness and pride
I believe in you, because I believe in love.

The journey of life will see winds and rain
Use the tears to nurture the courage of life
Use hope, turn it into wings in the wind
Let dreams take away all sorrow.

You accompanied me through tall mountains and great seas
My heart sings only with you
I will give up all my stubbornness and pride
I believe in you, because I believe in love.

You accompanied me through tall mountains and great seas
My heart sings only with you
I will give up all my stubbornness and pride
I believe in you, because I believe in love.

The journey of life will see winds and rain
Use the tears to nurture the courage of life
Use hope, turn it into wings in the wind
Let dreams take away all sorrow.