Breaking: 7.5 Earthquake rocks China

I'm sitting at my desk on the 19th floor in Shanghai doing work and listening to bad 80's music.  I started to feel a little woozy, as if I was dizzy and needed to lay down for a minute.  That's when I noticed that the cords on my window  shade were swinging back and forth.  Earthquake!

The swaying lasted about a minute or two here.  I'm sure it was much worse near the epicenter - no word on that yet.  

More on the flip side...

From the US Geological Survey

Magnitude 7.5
Date-Time

   * Monday, May 12, 2008 at 06:28:00 UTC
   * Monday, May 12, 2008 at 02:28:00 PM at epicenter
   * Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 31.084°N, 103.267°E
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
Distances 90 km (55 miles) WNW of Chengdu, Sichuan, China
150 km (95 miles) WSW of Mianyang, Sichuan, China
360 km (220 miles) WNW of Chongqing, Chongqing, China
1545 km (960 miles) SW of BEIJING, Beijing, China

Chinese press are reporting it.  We'll see what they say about the damage in the next few hours.

Incidentally, the earthquake was centered in Sichuan, west of Chongqing.  This is the region where the Three Gorges Dam was finished a few years ago.  In addition to a huge amount of electricity and a mass migration, the dam might produce environmental havoc and, and possibly even earthquakes.

Something like 100,000 dead in Burma ... a 7.5 earthquake ... nothing like a few tragedies to put the unending Democratic primary race into perspective.

Update: I didn't mean to suggest that this earthquake was caused by the Three Gorges Dam.  They are in the same general area in China, but still quite far apart (the Great Firewall of China is preventing me from telling you exactly how far apart...)  I read extensively about the dam and saw it in 2002 when it hadn't been closed yet.  I remembered reading about connections between dams and earthquakes and this one jolted my memory (put intended).