Chengdu Skyline, China

Postcard CN-1366988 from China was a beautiful 3D card showing the city skyline of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan province in China. With 14,047,625 residents (7,415,590 in nine urban districts and 6,632,035 in the surrounding area), Chengdu is the fifth most populous city in China as of 2010.

Today is the 7th anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, measured at 8.0 Ms, that killed 69,197 people and left 18,222 missing. The epicenter was 80 kilometers or 50 miles west-northwest of Chengdu.

Clean, Safe and Sanitary Water for a Better World

Postcard US-1864022 to California shows a field survey photo I took at Banda Aceh, Indonesia during the aftermath of the 2005 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami. The earthquakes damaged city's water supply and sewerage systems. Drinking water had to be trucked in and supplies were often in shortage. Residents had often resorted to nature water bodies for their needs, as shown in the inserted photo on the left where the woman dressed in red was doing her laundry downstream of the river. Meanwhile, as seen in the enlarged photo on the top right showing the house upstream by the right side of the bridge, raw sewage had been discharging into the river directly. Providing clean, safe and sanitary water has been a challenge for many parts of the world, especially after natural or man-made disasters.

I was ecstatic to see that 11-year-old Audrey Zhang, a student from Island Trees Middle School in Levittown, New York, won first place in Google's annual Doodle 4 Google competition by drawing of a transformative water purifier machine to make the world a better place.

As Zhang describes her machine, "It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes, and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and sanitary water, when humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life." Her artwork was displayed on Google's search page on Monday, seen by millions of people.

Happy Birthday to You

Postcard TW-1236766 from Taiwan shows "Happy Birthday" both in English and in Chinese with a sweet strawberry theme. I am re-sending this card to anyone who is having her/his birthday today.

Also, today marks the 6th anniversary of Wenchuan Earthquake, measured at 8.0 Ms and occurred at 02:28:01 PM Beijing Time on Monday, May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province, China. It killed 69,195 people and left 18,392 missing. About 100 kids, who were born over the three months following the earthquake in a thousand-year-old temple, have gathered to celebrate their fifth birthday in Shifang City, Sichuan Province.

Giant Rubber Duck in Taoyuan, Taiwan

The yellow duck came from Taiwan as a private swap. It was one of those world's largest rubber ducks, created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, usually at 16.5 × 20 × 32 meters in dimension and over 600 kg in weight. Since 2007, several ducks in various sizes licensed by Hofman have toured several countries and territories such as Amsterdam in Netherlands, Lommel in Belgium, and most recently Taoyuan in Taiwan.

Hofman created the giant rubber duck for a tour named "Spreading Joy Around the World" in 2007 by bringing back people's childhood memories. After the display at the Glory Pier in Kaohsiung went off without a hitch from September 19 to October 20, 2013, the Land Art Festival (桃園地景藝術節) in Xiwu Township, Taoyuan had its own debut of the 18-meter-tall, 18-meter-wide and 25-meter-long yellow duck on October 26, 2013. However, it became a high-profile victim of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake when an air pump went out of service on November 1 during a power outage triggered by earthquake. As a result, it deflated before exploding during an attempt to re-inflate it in high wind.

Organizers at the Taoyuan County Cultural Affairs Bureau borrowed the duck commissioned by Kaohsiung city government that drew 4 million visitors. Yet the strong winds kept the alternative duck on dry ground for another few days, which made it the first Hofman's duck displayed on land. You can watch a video clip "Giant rubber duck pops in Taoyuan following earthquake" on Youtube.

The 5th Anniversary of Sichuan Earthquake in China

I made this postcard to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China. It was a deadly earthquake measured at M_s 8.0 that occurred at 02:28:01 pm Beijing Time on Monday, May 12, 2008, with about 70,000 people killed and more than 18,000 missing. While the re-built efforts were still incomplete, another earthquake measured at M_s 7.0, Ya'an earthquake, occurred at 08:02 am Beijing Time on Saturday, April 20, 2013 in the same heavily impacted area. 

The postcard shows a wooden calendar from the the Museum of Modern Art in New York City with the date marked on May 12th. It reminds us that disaster relief and reduction should be a constant effort in every  global community.

You can purchase a copy of this postcard from Zazzle.com