news travel faster than tremors?

I was in the middle of work yesterday afternoon when ZM all the way from Beijing MSN-ed me asking if I felt the earthquake. Earthquake? I immediately checked on the news and only then learned about the earthquake in Sichuan. We're not in the centre of Bangkok so we didn't feel the tremor plus the editorial building is only six storeys tall. TV expressed concern that this might overshadow the cyclone in Burma; she said that between China and Burma, the latter needs more help from the outside world since China already has its network. I couldn't agree more but just the same, it's sad that tragedies like these are happening. The planet is really going berserk.