Society

Yushu earthquake relief in my eyes

By Zhang Yun (China Tibet Information Center)
Updated: 2010-04-30 15:29

Earthquakes have taken place frequently this year. To Chinese people, the earthquake which happened in Yushu on April 14th, 2010 was another disaster after the earthquake in Wenchuan on May 12th, 2008. The Tibetan people and people of other ethnic groups suffered huge losses with 2264 people dead and 73 people missing. The whole nation was heartbroken with grief and the whole world was shocked.

As soon as the quake took place, the government started with the emergency relief plan. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao came to the frontline to direct the relief work, comfort the victims, build up people’s confidence and mobilize all of the forces to take part in the relief work, a special combat. Chairman Hu Jintao who was paying state visits to foreign countries ended his trip immediately and came back to participate in the relief work. He supervised the relief measures, comforted the local people and guided the quake relief work. The newly-built highways and airports played an important role in the relief work. The fund-raising show on China Central Television (CCTV) raised 2.1 billion yuan. Enterprises donated a big sum, common people made their kind donations, little kids took out their pocket money and even seniors with low incomes donated their old-age pensions…All of these displayed the great sympathy and benevolence of the Chinese nation and their brotherly ties to the Yushu people.

The difficulties of relief work were beyond our imagination for lack of oxygen at such a high altitude. The police dogs could hardly search and rescue due to oxygen deficiency. Sandstorm and heavy snow worsened the situation. In addition, there was a scarcity of people who were bilingual in both Tibetan and Chinese.

However, the rescue team, the medical team, the transportation team, the oil drilling crew as well as the volunteers from all over the country, such as Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, Tibet, Shandong, Tianjin and so on persisted in carrying out their missions despite the above difficulties. The officials and soldiers of the PLA, the armed police and the public security worked on the frontline. Many volunteers followed Mr. Huang Furong, a volunteer from Hong Kong, working in danger of losing their own lives; local cadres, monks, common people, and even children devoted themselves to the quake relief. For example, a 10-year-old boy named Tsering Dan Zhou worked as an interpreter; a Tibetan girl named Gengsong Daige saved 9 relatives from debris; monks from Ganzi, Sichuan Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region joined the local monks not only in taking part in the relief work but also in chanting Buddhist prayers to guide the souls of the dead and comfort the living in the Buddhist ceremonies…Miracles happened one after another with more lives saved, which brought people closer to each other. Mobile hospitals were set up, the injured were given medical treatment, the victims were provided with food and clothing. The “tent schools” were also built up and classes were resumed.

The timely, efficient and all-out relief efforts carried out by the Chinese government and the huge and generous contributions from people all over the country brought great confidence and courage to people of all ethnic groups in Yushu to rebuild their homes in spite of the difficulties.

The Yushu earthquake aroused wide concern in the international community. Many governments and non-governmental organizations made humanitarian donations in the spirit of love. The international press made positive reports on the situation of the quake zone, the spirit of perseverance, cooperation and the fraternal unity of the Chinese government and Chinese people during the relief efforts.

However, different voices could also be heard in the world as someone from far away was making unpleasant remarks about our hard relief work. Some wanted to shave off the achievements of numerous people by simple words; some took advantage of the earthquake to gain fame of his own; and some even controlled the media, stirred up conflicts between Han and Tibetan ethnic groups and made trouble to the relief work. They even attempted to urge someone to visit the quake-stricken area with an evil intention. Compared with the soldiers, monks and common people in the relief efforts, they should be ashamed of themselves.