Host：central China has been hit by an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. Five children are reported to have died after the tremor brought down buildings of two primary schools. Two powerful aftershocks have also been reported. Well, our environment correspondent Catherine Jacob is here, and Catherine, 7.8 on the Richter scale, isn't this a powerful and significant earthquake?

Catherine：Yes. it certainly is. Because if you consider the Ritcher Scale ranges from nought to 9, obvious 7.8 is fairly high up there. It is as you're saying, central China, in the Province of Sichuan, and it hit about a hundred kilometers or less than 60 miles away, from the provincial capital, which is called Chengdu. Now crucially it struck Chinese time at arond half past two in the afternoon. And of course that means there were a lot of people around on the roads, in their offices. Little wonder then that the UN Global Disaster alert system has warned that the impact of this could be very high. As you say, we know that at least 4 children are dead and hundreds injured after two schools collapsed in central china in Chongqing which is next to Sichuan Province. Also the Chinese army have been deployed to try to search survivors and repercussions have been felt far far away from the epicenter, even as far as Beijing, nearly a thousand of miles away.

Host: I mean is this an area known for its earthquake activity?

Catherine: It is. China, generally, is well used to earthquakes. In fact, there was one in a different province, which was about 7.2 on the Ritcher Scale in March. However, you can never tell it depends on the timing of course we've said this is early afternoon and did where the epicenter is. This wasn't far from the provincial capital. lots and lots of people around as far as Being goes. Buildings there, was said to have trembled for around 2 minutes. And of course, lots of places are evacuated including the headquarters of the Olympic Committee there in Beijing. However, from there, anyway, no injury report so far.

Host: wow, and it takes a while (it does),doesn't it? for us to hit a full extent of the damage.How accessible is the region?

Catherine：well, it's fairly sparsely populated generally, but the authorities there do say, the Chinese army have been deployed to try to access the scale of the situation. As you say, in this kind of case, the report's dribbling, don't they? But we do know, so far. at least four children dead after those two schools collapsed in the Sichuan province and the army on their way to trying to find out exactly how big the disaster this is.

感谢Nirvana提供译文：

主持人：中国的中部四川遭受了里氏7.8级的大地震。据报道有两所小学的5名儿童被震后倒塌的房屋砸死。随后两次强烈的余震也已经被报道。好，现在我们的环境特派员Catherine Jacob在这。Catherine里氏7.8级地震是一场惊天动地的大地震吗？

Catherine：是的，当然。如果你试想下，里氏等级的最高值还不到9，你就会发现很显然那里发生的7.8级地震等级是相当高的。如你刚刚所说，地震发生在中国中部的四川省，震中离四川省会成都不到60英里，也就是大约100多公里。地震发生于北京时间下午2点半左右。很显然意味着当时有很多人在路上或他们的办公室。几乎没人知道当时美国国家环球灾害中心预警系统已经发出了预警称这次地震的破坏力可能相当高。像你所说，我们知道至少已有4名儿童死亡，数以百计的人在重庆（重庆市中国中部靠近四川省的一座城市）两所学校倒塌事故中受伤。同时中国军队已经整装出发尽可能搜寻震后的幸存者，包括10000多英里外的北京很多远离震中的地方都可以感觉到强烈的震感。 主持人：我意思是还有没有什么地方因为地震而被人所知。

Catherine:有的。在中国，其实经常有地震发生。在另一个省4月份也发生了里氏7.2级的地震。然而你很难单从时间上加以辨别当然刚刚我们说了地震发生在下午早些时候以及震中的位置-那里离省会不远。周围远至北京的大量民众称感到了大约2分钟的地震。与此同时包括位于北京的奥委会指挥部等一大批机构被撤出北京。不过，从那边传来的消息称，至今还没有受伤的报道。

主持人：喔～还需要些时间不是吗，使得我们能更全方位的了解这场灾难。现在这个区域通行了吗。

Catherine：恩，相当少的人住在那里，但是当地政府称，解放军已经出发赶赴受灾位置，如你所说，对于这种事情报道也很难特别清楚，不是吗？但至少我们知道，最少已经有4名孩子在四川省两所学校的倒塌中丧生，而部队也在尽力搜寻，努力搞清这次灾难到底有多大规模。

Workers in Beijing pour out of buildings onto the street, evacuated from their high rise offices after an earthquake stuck more than 900 miles away in the Sichuan Province. It measured magnitude 7.5. It hit 57 miles northwest of the provincial capital about 2:30 in the afternoon.

"It's a little bit startling. We wondered what it was. At first it sounded like the winds. And you can hear the drapes flapping back and forth across the windows. And then we realized that it was actually the whole building was moving, so we all thought it was a good idea to get out."

A quake with this magnitude is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas. In Beijing, building sway for more than 2 minutes, was also felt it in Taiwan's capital,and in Vietnam's capital of Hanoi.Sichuan Province is in the western part of China; its capital is Chengdu of about 10 million people.The area where the quake struck lies on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau where mountains rise sharply and the population density is generally thin.

Chaos in China as the central part of the most populated country in the world is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake Monday afternoon. Chinese state media says over 100 people are dead and dozens are hurt. A school collapsed, burying nearly 900 students in Sichuan province.

The government is giving tips to those who may still be trapped or buried beneath rubble, urging them to quote "keep calm and conserve your energy. Seek water and food and wait patiently for rescue".

The quake hit near Chengdu, a city with 10 million people on the western side of China. In Beijing which is more than 900 miles away from the epicenter, building swayed for more than 2 minutes. The shaking was felt as far away as in Taiwan and in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.

The earthquake struck in the middle of the afternoon when chinese schools and offices were full. State media report thousands are dead in the 7.8 magnitude quake.

This woman ran to a friend saying her room were shaking. Nearly 900 people are trapped in the rubble of their school. Reporters saw burried teenagers struggling to climb out from amongthe clasped building.

China's Preimer said that all chinese officials should take the lead to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake. More than 5000 soliders and police have been rushed to Sichuan near the quake epicenter. While the struck at the center of the country was strong enough to sway office towers in Beijing, more than 900 miles to the north. Many people were running to the streets when the shaking began. Officials say 80% of the buildings in one county have collapsed that is led to fears of the death toll could climb dramatically. People report traffic jams and water and power outages, telephone lines are jammed as people try to call the affected region.

感谢Rachelzzz协助校稿：）

This was a massive earthquake, and it's clearly earlier reports that had been trickling in so far were almost certainly getting much worse. In fact, just in the last couple of minutes, we've gotten a word that 900 students buried about an hour from the epicenter, many roads in the area destroyed so rescue workers can't get through. Even here in Beijing, many of us, myself included, felt disoriented for a time. We weren't sure exactly what it was until we realized it was a huge earthquake a thousand miles away.

Near the epicentre in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu, early footage show dazed residents taking over the streets. One with a bandage on her head could be seen getting into a taxi for help. Chengdu is a city of some 10 million people But closer to the quake zone in a small city of Chongqing，a pair of primary schools collapsed, injuring a hundred chilren and killing at least 5.

The earthquake struck with such power, that highrises in Beijing, clearly around the other side of the country, swayed back and forth, sending thousands scrambling for safety.

"We're on the 15th floor and back then 10 minutes ago, the building started shaking quite a lot. So, we just left. But there was no damage that we can see and nothing fell over and nothing was broken. So it's just a new experience for people to feel an earthquake, I think."

The epicenter is a mountainous area, best known as home to a giant panda research center. Even before state-run Chinese media released many details, the country's premier announced he would head directly to the quake zone, an ominous sign that things may get much worse.

"Many phone lines in the area continue to be down so the full extent of the damage is not yet known. And there are still aftershocks, the series of fairly strong aftershocks ongoing. Diana?"

" so, Neo, how do you expect information to travel out the area. Will it be difficult to know anything for how long? "

"It's very difficult. In fact, early word we received was that things were relatively milder that there wasn't serious damange. And then came report that chinese premier was heading to the region immediately. That was the first indication that things were bad, information in the last, just half hour, so it really just started to trigger out, showing the true severity of this. It's going to get a lot worse then.

"Alright, thanks, Nelson, got that report that hundreds and hundreds of students may be trapped in at least one building."

感谢紫町协助校对文稿：）

MONICA LLOYD, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Monica Lloyd, and you've found your way to the start of a new day of CNN Student News. Thanks for spending part of your Tuesday with us.

First Up: Powerful Quake in China

LLOYD: First up, Chinese President Hu Jintao has ordered an all-out effort to help the victims of a massive earthquake. Government officials say around 10,000 people were killed by the 7.9-magnitude quake. It struck Monday afternoon, local time, in the Sichuan province. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao traveled to the region to direct the rescue work, but the destruction is so extensive that rescuers are running into difficulty trying to get supplies to some of the worst-affected areas. Roads are damaged, buildings are destroyed, and according to local reports, at least six schools collapsed to some extent, trapping almost 900 students, mostly 8th and 9th graders, in the rubble. Now, China is just a little smaller than the U.S., and as we said, the source of this earthquake was in the Sichuan province. But just to get an idea of how powerful this was, tremors shook the ground 950 miles away in Beijing. It was even felt as far away as Vietnam and Thailand! John Vause was in Beijing when the quake hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN REPORTER: This was the moment when China shook. "Our building is still moving. This is real, absolutely real," says this man in the city of Chengdu, about 60 miles from the epicenter. Outside, streets were crowded with the dazed and frightened. "I was so scared," says this woman. "The room I was staying in was shaking like this."

VAUSE: Hospitals were evacuated. There was some damage and minor injuries in the area.

PERSON ON THE STREET: I said to my mum, "Let's get out of here." I then put on a pair of slippers and ran from the hotel.

VAUSE: The first major quake was felt mid-afternoon, and according to the U.S. Geological Survey, was followed by other powerful tremors. "The magnitude was big, and the area impacted was vast as well," says this government official. The tremors were felt across more than a dozen provinces, most of the country and beyond; all the way to Shanghai in the south, to Beijing in the north. In fact, here in Beijing about 900 miles from the epicenter, we felt the tremor. But at the time, it wasn't clear what was happening. The building began to sway, so I came out here to this balcony. And for about two minutes, there was no noise, just a slow rolling motion. Elsewhere in the capital, thousands fled buildings; others were ordered to leave.

PERSON ON THE STREET: The building started shaking quite a lot, so we just left. But there was no damage that we could see.

VAUSE: But across the country, state media report the number of dead and injured is starting to rise. Thousands of troops have been ordered in to help survivors, as China confronts the full extent of this natural disaster. John Vause, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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LLOYD: As new information comes in on the damage caused by this deadly natural disaster, you can go to our Web site, CNNStudentNews.com, to get the latest updates.

Worst Earthquakes

LLOYD: One expert tells CNN that Monday's quake in China is the largest one that this region has seen "for more than a generation." But it's not the first time this type of destructive natural disaster has hit the Asian country. Paula Hancocks looks back at some of the strongest and most destructive earthquakes in recent history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN REPORTER: The deadliest earthquake of the past century was in China. Tanghshan, in the northeast of the country, was hit by a 7.5-magnitude quake in 1976. It killed more than a quarter of a million people and flattened the city. The U.S. Geological Survey says unofficial estimates of the death toll were up to three times higher. Just four years ago, a massive 9.1-magnitude earthquake under the sea off the Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered the deadly Boxing Day tsunami. More than 220,000 people in fourteen different countries were killed; around 1.7 million more displaced. Many of the devastated areas are still in the process of being rebuilt.

A year later, 2005, northern Pakistan suffered a 7.6-magnitude earthquake. Rescue efforts were hugely complicated by the mountainous terrain; landslides and rockfalls cut off access to parts of Kashmir for days. At least 86,000 are thought to have perished. Iran has suffered a number of earthquakes over the past century. The most catastrophic in 1990 in the western part of the country killed up to 50,000. More recently, in 2003, a lesser earthquake in the southeastern town of Bam killed 31,000. The U.S. Geological Survey says this was believed to be the biggest earthquake in the area for some 2,000 years. Paula Hancocks, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Fast Facts

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Time for some Fast Facts! Earthquakes happen when two blocks of the earth slip past one another, releasing energy through the earth's crust. An earthquake's magnitude measures how much energy is released at the source of the quake. The epicenter is the location on the surface of the earth directly above where the earthquake starts. Many quakes are followed by aftershocks, smaller tremors that occur in the same place as the main earthquake.

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LLOYD: To help your class understand more about earthquakes, check out our Learning Activity at CNNStudentNews.com. It challenges students to investigate why and where quakes happen, and look for patterns to examine if these tremors can be predicted.

Shoutout

AZUZ: Time for the Shoutout! Who was the first U.S. postmaster general? If you think you know it, shout out it! Was it: A) Ben Franklin, B) Alexander Hamilton, C) Thomas Jefferson or D) Aaron Burr? You've got three seconds -- GO! All of these Founding Fathers held government positions, but Ben Franklin was the first head of the post office. That's your answer and that's your Shoutout!

42￠ Stamps

LLOYD: When Ben Franklin was in charge, the post office's main job was delivering letters between Congress and the army. One postmaster actually brought mail to revolutionary soldiers on foot because he couldn't afford a horse. Transportation isn't a problem these days for the postal service, but money still is. That's part of the reason why, starting this week, it costs you a penny more to send stuff through the mail. With the price of a first-class stamp going up to 42 cents, Carl Azuz looks at the history of this sticky subject.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Business ain't booming at the U.S. Postal Service. It just posted a $700 million loss. Thanks in part to e-mail, snail mail volume is down. Thanks in part to gas prices, delivery costs are up. And so's the stamp, by one penny.

That's a far cry from the first stamp, which featured a picture of this Founding Father. In 1847, Ben Franklin's face traveled all over the country for five cents a pop. Some folks thought that was too expensive, so in 1851, the price was dropped to three cents!

About the only thing lower than the price: the speed at which letters traveled. It took about a month for mail to get across the country. And even after the Pony Express rode onto the scene in 1860, you were looking at ten days' travel time, with letter carriers facing lots of risks, like death. But the stamp system was well-affixed, and so were the faces on it.

Some guy named George Washington has been pictured more times on U.S. stamps than anyone! They've featured everything from Star Trek to Secretariat, Frankenstein to Frank Sinatra, who's on the new 42-cent stamp. When the Hoboken crooner was born in 1915, a first-class sticker cost three cents; when he died in 1998, we were paying 32 cents. And now, his postal portrait is priced at 42 cents. But if you think that's too much, compare how long it takes to deliver a letter today to what it used to be; you'll see that at least in one sense, you get what you pay for. Carl Azuz, CNN Student News.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Blog Promo

LLOYD: Now, collecting stamps is a popular hobby, but when's the last time you used one to mail something? After all, you can pay your bills, write letters to your friends, even send birthday cards online. So, what kind of impact will this price increase really have? Go to our blog at CNNStudentNews.com and tell us what you think.

Barr Enters Race

LLOYD: A political news: the race for the White House is getting a little more crowded. That's because former Representative Bob Barr has announced his candidacy. Barr served Georgia's 7th district in Congress as a Republican, but he left the party in 2006. He's seeking the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination, and he says he's running to give voters a choice beyond the two major political parties.

Talking Democracy

LLOYD: Speaking of the election, we asked, you answered! Some more classes are Talking Democracy with us this year. We got an awesome iReport from Mrs. Hillenbrand's classes in Evansville, Indiana, showing us their mock presidential primary and surveying some students on issues like gas prices and the war in Iraq. Check it out in the Spotlight on our Web site. And while you're there, get those cameras rolling. With your parents' permission, send us an iReport on this month's Talking Democracy topic: political polling! You might see yourself on CNN Student News!

Goodbye

LLOYD: And that's where we call cut for today. But we'll be back in action again tomorrow. Have a great day. I'm Monica Lloyd.