Earthquake in China

I chose to read the article that Mrs. Jarrett linked in her blog: Superstitions About Quake Meet the Web, Irritating the Chinese Authorities - by Andrew Jacobs. The article describes the devastating earthquakes that shook Chengdu, China in May of 2008 and the discussion that followed. According to some Chinese bloggers, these earthquakes could have been predicted and precautionary measures could have been put into place. They blame Chinese provincial officials for disregarding alerts given by local seismology bureaus. Rumors or not, these comments irritated the Chinese government and four men were arrested for spreading them. Other rumors such as a toad invasion gained the most popularity. Two days before the earthquake, several toads swarmed around the town of Mianzhu. However, this was over-exaggerated on internet sites. I hope things have improved in China since the earthquakes.