WENCHUAN Songtext

In the hours before the deadly earthquake, ponds inexplicably drained, cows flung themselves against fences, and swarms of toads invaded a city that was later destroyed.

"Why did the government ignore the signs?" asked one writer in a chat room. "Did they not care?"

In a televised interview just after the quake, the Director of the People's Nature Management Bureau tried to calm citizens by saying the strange phenomenon had been a normal and natural part of the breeding season.

The interview, now posted on the internet, has been provoking a torrent of angry remarks.