As bibibliotecas e os seus profissonais na tragédia de Sichuan...

Enquanto ouvimos, vemos ou lemos as notícias que nos informam dos terríveis acontecimentos na província de Sichuan na China, ou na Birmânia, muitas são as coisas em que pensamos. Os meus pensamentos, apesar de incrédulo perante as imagens da tragédia, vão para além dos retratos que observo... um desses é - e as bibliotecas? os seus profissionais e o seu património?
A partir de uma das mailing-lists da IFLA pude ler uma mensagem que me chamou a atenção... aqui fica:

This morning I received a good news that Ms. Li Chun, Director of the Bei-chuan Library at the epicenter in Sichuan earthquake was rescued after 70+ hours of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake. Two other librarians were rescued yesterday but still two more are missing. The library was completely destroyed during the first quake. The team which rescued Li Chun had to launch three actions because of the still-falling bricks and worked two+ hours non-stop with their bare hands and use a small knife to cut through the wood pieces around her.

Sichuan province has 119 county libraries distributed in this mountainous region in Western China. So far 21 county/region libraries were reported seriously damaged.

The Chinese Libraries Association has a Web site reporting news frequently (in Chinese).

As of yesterday rescue teams have reached all counties at the earthquake area. Many of the rescue teams walked over 30 miles in the mountainous region because most roads and bridges were destroyed or damaged.

Right now all the focus is still rescue thousands who are still missing. I am sure very soon there will be funds established to help rebuilding the Libraries there.

Many thanks to all who already helped and cared people there!

Marcia Zeng

Professor, School of Library and Information Science

Kent State University