Today at 2:28pm, and air raid siren sounded and all traffic stood still for three minutes while all the drivers did what Tianjin drivers do best. The flags are all at half-mast, which is apparently the first time that’s been done for civilian casualties. I was at a major intersection on the way back from exercising at the time, so I stopped. I also managed to get some photos and video. Traffic police were at every big intersection, and I could see them checking their watches as the time drew near.
China’s blocked all the video, music and gaming sites and suspended the Olympic Torch relay for three days as a national expression of mourning. I’ll add video to the end of this post as soon as I find a way to get it uploaded to YouTube.
I just took these photos:
The black banner on the government building says: “Tianjin city deeply grieves for fellow citizens of Wenchuan, Sichuan who perished in the Great Earthquake” (天津市深切哀悼四川汶川大地震遇难同胞).
Businesses and schools also assembled outside. Jessica was in class, and they arranged the breaktime so that the whole school could go out together.
Make sure you turn up the sound for this video.
Canada:
China:
Taiwan:
The States:
Ecuador:
Brazil:
Haiti:
UK:
Thanks for sharing this powerful, moving moment with us!
Joel,
On that day I was subbing out at the Shanghai American School. The school is literally right beside the ocean. At 2:20 the principal came on the intercom saying that at 2:28 there would be a 3 minute period of silence. At 2:28 everything was quiet except the barges out in the ocean which were blaring their horns. What an overwhelming thing when you think that 1.3 billion people stopped that day at the same exact time to honor those victims.