Even though it was the latter half of the day, heavy smoke from the flames made it almost impossible to make out whether the sun was setting.
News media outlets have long since been broadcasting about the massive evacuations at the borders near Dongguan and Huizhou after an hour of national media blackout so that the Ministry of Defence would be able to release a statement first.
Yet, pictures and videos of the devastation beyond the border walls had already been broadcast all over social media. Still, within that hour of media blackout, people from behind the scenes had been busy scrambling to send out revised heightened alerts to not just the military but also a call for civil defences and hospitals for them to receive the injured.
