CHINA'S QUAKE:Avoiding the Political Aftershocks...

On the high plains of Qinghai province, where a massive earthquake killed hundreds Wednesday, there was a grim realization that if not for the changing of the season, the devastation could have been much worse. In recent weeks many of the migrant herders in the region moved from their winter grounds, where they live in mud brick houses, to summer pastures, where they live in tents, making it more likely they would survive the magnitude 7.1 quake. "Most have moved out of winter herding areas, so they won't be greatly impacted," says Marc Foggin, chief representatives of Plateau Perspectives, an NGO in Qinghai's provincial capital Xining that focuses on sustainable development in China's mountainous west.
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