China: Corrections to blog posts

I sent copies of my blog posts on the International Debris Flow Workshop to Asian colleagues for whom I have email addresses.  I received several nice replies including one from Rong Zhi Tan who works in Administration at the Chinese Instititue for Mountain Hazards and Environment in Chengdu.  Jane (her English nickname) pointed out three mistakes in my blog posts.  I have made the necessary corrections in my blog posts.  Here they are:

Rong Zhi Tan (Jane) was one of the workshop organizers.  She was a great help to me and speaks excellent English!

My first mistake was the caption on the following photo:

I incorrectly identified the above speaker as Dr. Shuai Zhang. Jane pointed out that this is Dr. Hua-li Pan from the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment in Chengdu. She presented a paper titled, The Mechanism of Debris Flow Downcutting Erosion for Movable Bed and Its Critical Conditions. Dr. Hua-li Pan pointed out that debris flows are more erosive than water or even sediment-laden water.

The second mistake was another incorrect photo caption:

I incorrectly said this Communist Party slogan translates to: It is important that the party and the people communicate. Actually, that was another sign. Jane says this one correctly translates to: It is our duty to protect the roads. Anyone who destroys the road should make compensation according to the law.

 

My third "goof" was the date of the Wenchuan earthquake.  It occurred in 2008, not 2010.  See the following photo from the earthquake memorial.  The stone clock shows 2:28 (PM), 2008-5-12, the time and date of the earthquake.

The reason for my confusion was the date of the catastrophic debris flows in the same area.  They occurred in 2010.  See the following slide:

Slide from Dr. Peng Cui's presentation, Formation Mechanism and Risk Control of Catastrophic Debris Flow Hazards lists the debris flows which occurred in China in 2010.  There were two deadly flows in the Wenchuan area occurring one day apart and causing a total of 128 deaths.