Zhouqu victims mourned at Expo
- Source: Global Times
- [08:27 August 16 2010]
- Comments
A staffer at the Gansu Pavilion inside the Expo Park yesterday presents a bouquet of chrysanthemums to express her condolences for victims of the deadly August 8 mudslides in Zhouqu county of Gansu Province. Photo: IC
By Duan Wuning and Li Xiang
Visitors at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai yesterday paused from queue-ing at popular pavilions inside the Expo Park to grieve for the more than 1,200 dead people and the 500 others still missing from the Zhouqu mudslides, which struck the southeastern county in Gansu Province over a week ago, while the rest of the country flew flags at half-mast to pay respects to the victims dur-ing a national day of mourning.
Entertainment venues around the city, including bars, clubs and movie the-aters also shut down yesterday to weep for victims of the August 8 tragedy in northwestern China, marking the coun-try's third national day of mourning fol-lowing the first for the nearly 70,000 victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and the second for some 2,000 victims of the Qinghai earthquake in April.
At a brief memorial ceremony held at the Gansu Pavilion yesterday, where music was silenced throughout the park, authorities expressed regret for the vic-tims and their families.
"We should energize from this sad-ness and help Gansu put together an ex-hibit dedicated to the victims that will re-mind visitors of the disaster that Zhouqu people have overcome," said Hong Hao, director general of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination Bureau.
The Gansu Pavilion plans to create a video display that will present a collec-tion of images from the Zhouqu mud-slide to visitors in the coming weeks, according to Li Shuhang, director of the Gansu Pavilion.
