Editorials

Hope for quake victims

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-16 08:19

Editor's note: Rescue work for Yushu should be carried out timely and efficiently with the experience gained from Wenchuan.

Like how we felt nearly two years ago when the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan province leveled a county and claimed more than 80,000 lives, our hearts go out to Qinghai province's Yushu county. A 7.1-magnitude quake struck the county on Wednesday morning. More than 600 lives have already been lost and more than 10,000 injured.

We mourn for the dead, pray for those struggling under debris and hope they will hold on until rescuers reach them. We give our most sincere condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. We bless those who survived and pray that they make it through the tough times.

Local armed police forces arrived at the scene and carried out rescue work immediately after the quake. National and provincial rescue teams soon followed. Nongovernmental organizations and volunteers will soon join them.

With the experience gained from Wenchuan, rescue and relief efforts for Yushu should be carried out in an orderly, timely and efficient manner.

Social organizations have already organized activities to raise relief funds and some enterprises have also donated money and planned online charity funds. Similarly, celebrities in art circles have expressed their concern for quake victims by organizing charity shows.

It is unfortunate that such devastating earthquakes have struck the country twice in less than two years. But we have learnt a lot from our fight against natural disasters: How to reduce as much as possible the loss in lives and property; how to mobilize social resources in our rescue and relief efforts; and how to construct our cities better to reduce the losses of lives from these disasters.

(China Daily 04/16/2010 page8)