Sadness but hope for British Chinese

By Nigel Pankhurst
BBC News, London's Chinatown

Chinatown is the centre of the Chinese community in London

The UK's Chinese community has reacted with understandable sadness, but also hope following the devastating earthquake in China's south-western Sichuan province.

At least 12,000 people have died, with still no news from the area near the epicentre of the quake which had a 7.9 magnitude.

In London's Chinatown - the heart of the Chinese community in the UK - the mood was one of concern, but there was a feeling of confidence that China's government could deal with the disaster.

Grocery shop manager Jeff Ou said: "It's good that the Chinese government has responded to the disaster quite quickly. They've sent thousands of troops there already.

"I have friends there. They are all okay but can't get back to their homes until everything is cleared up, either today or tomorrow.

"They're not so close to the epicentre so the damage is just to their furniture.

"At first, most of the mobile phones were unavailable for a couple of hours then the landlines were cut off. But we can get in touch with them by mobile phone now."

Past experience

YC Wong has a friend in a neighbouring province who felt the quake.

Mr Wong said: "Luckily, he's okay. He said he felt the shock but nothing serious happened to his home because most of the buildings are two storeys and quite new as well.

Alan Ma said there was surprise so many had died in the earthquake

"At first it was really hard to reach people in the earthquake area because everyone was using their mobile phones at the same time."

He believes China is ready to cope with the disaster, following the experience of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which killed at least 250,000 people.

"The troops, paramedics and the police acted very quickly. Even the president was in the region within a few hours," he said of the latest earthquake.

"Luckily it's summer. If it was winter the situation would be even worse. It gets really cold in that region in winter."

Shop donations

Marissa Guo said that although there was shock in China at the earthquake there was still a sense of calm.

"China has experience of natural disasters, so I think they will cope," she said.

Restaurant manager Alan Ma said there was a sense of surprise that so many people had died.

Free Chinese-language newspapers are taken from stands in Chinatown

It was "terrible people have lost their families", said David Lai.

"I don't come from that area but we do have people in this community who come from Sichuan. I come from Hong Kong but it's all part of the same nation," he said.

"It's like the earthquake which happened in 1976. Thirty-two years later it's come back again."

Wing Leung called for "worldwide assistance" for those affected in Sichuan - and Chinatown appears to be doing its bit.

"Thousands of people have died and a lot of people have lost their homes," he said.

"Some of the shops here are asking for donations for the earthquake victims. People in Chinatown will come together and try to help."