Archive for the ‘Health care’ Category

Images of SQR-funded tent hospital in Yushu

Saturday, May 29th, 2010

The tent hospital for which SQR recently provided funding continues to help those injured in the earthquake.

Seven members of the medical team outside the tent hospital in Yushu Shelves and cabinets storing medicine for the earthquake victims Young earthquake victims being assessed by the medical team A woman lies in a very basic tent ward with an IV drip in her arm

This and other projects in the area still require funding to continue to bring relief to the remotely-located victims of last month’s earthquake.

Summary of Interview Research Two Years After the 12 May 2008 Sichuan Earthquake

Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Work to rebuild the counties destroyed by the Sichuan earthquake is well under way, but a huge amount still needs to be done, and the grim reality for tens of thousands of the victims is that they will still be living in temporary shelters beyond the third anniversary.

Hundreds of interviews conducted recently by Sichuan Quake Relief across a wide range of affected areas with victims of the quake indicate that, while there is a high level of satisfaction with the reaction of the central authorities since the earthquake, at a local level many fundamental problems persist.

A prevalent theme of the SQR findings was the somewhat inconsistent nature of the recovery efforts. Some villages were just about complete, looking extremely well organised, with housing, retail and commercial complexes taking shape and a lot of new infrastructure in place. In these, the locals and officials could rightly say, “mission just about accomplished.” But then it could happen that the next village down the road would look in comparative disarray, with rubble-strewn streets, infrastructure projects in the early stages, temporary dwellings and roads in poor condition and not protected from landslide threats, and permanent housing still a distant dream for most.

Various factors may account for these differences, among them local governance issues, geological factors, local economic conditions, the relative successes or weaknesses of the ‘twinning system’ etc., but for those who live there, for now, it’s “mission far from accomplished”.

Housing is still the key issue that is causing great concern all across the region. The rebuilding work of this vast reconstruction plan that involves more than 1,200 townships and in excess of 20 million people is now officially scheduled to be completed ahead of time on September 10, 2010, but many see this four-month time span as an unrealistic target given that in some towns construction has not begun, and in other cases the land for projects has not yet been officially assigned.

Work on the reconstruction of the 1.4 million rural homes in the area is often slow, and in many cases stagnated, as villagers cannot afford to make up the difference of the average 20,000 RMB subsidy they received with the 70,000 RMB it costs to build an average small home. Many families are consequently still living in homes that are unsafe and marked for demolition, or in unfinished housing open to the elements.

Adding to tensions is the convoluted and somewhat opaque subsidy system which can vary greatly depending on hukou status and other factors open to official interpretation. Towns and villages are rife with stories of favoured individuals getting more than they should have, and of others not getting what they deserved.

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Another related issue that is causing much concern is the matter of farmers being asked to give up their land and move into urban communities to make way for infrastructure development projects. Aside from the post-quake recovery effort in Sichuan, this is part of a wider national urban-rural integration involving the rationalisation of land use by concentrating rural residents and industries in designated settlements. In 2009, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources, nationwide land sale revenues reached 1.59 trillion RMB (US$233 billion), up 63.4 per cent on the previous year. With such profits at stake, many farmers feel that local officials and developers are using the earthquake reconstruction efforts as a pretext to increase their holdings. Amid somewhat frantic and chaotic rebuilding and re-zoning, some allege they were asked to patriotically give up their land for community infrastructure projects, only to then witness it being sold to private business for a handsome profit.

These allegations of unfair compensation payments and land re-zoning projects pop up time and again throughout the region, causing a lot of anxiety exacerbated by what locals say is scarce opportunity to challenge decisions they find unfair. In interviews many said that their calls for meetings at a village or township level to discuss their concerns often went unanswered, and they are reluctant to bring their grievances to a regional or central level.

Regardless of whether the official decisions were fair or not, the fact there is little room for a challenge often leaves the individuals concerned feeling short-changed, and with little access to official sources of information, the community vacuums are often filled with rumour and speculation.

Good work has been done on the anti-corruption front from a central level, many said. Following a five-month audit, the National Audit Office said early this year that 230 million yuan of reconstruction funds had been misused, and Sichuan provincial sources reported that 350 officials were found violating laws or Party discipline during earthquake-relief or reconstruction in 2009. These are small percentages in the overall scheme of the mass recovery effort, and the fact they were publicly investigated last year and reported is laudable, but with community suspicions running deep it is important this work continues to be carried out under a spotlight and right down to the most local level.

Two years on, reconstruction progress

Education and healthcare standards were, most interviewees said, generally now back up to pre-quake standards. Some reported that poor economic circumstances had meant that a small minority of families could not afford required healthcare or education for their children, and in some circumstances grassroot organisations and non-governmental organisations were helping to fill this gap.

In many areas water supplies are under strain. Sources have sometimes been altered by geological shifts, or by new layouts of villages concentrating too many people on too few sources. Often people walk long distances to fetch fresh water.

The quality of the water, and the air, is also of major concern. The huge level of construction and cement production in the area has inevitably led to a significant deterioration in air and water quality. In addition, there were many concerns raised that with the focus fixed on construction, factories and officials are turning a blind eye to fundamental environmental safety issues. Many people expressed extreme concern for the health of their children as a result of environmental degradation. None of those interviewed had heard of any recent environmental impact assessments carried out in their communities. No doubt this type of work is being carried out, but again it seems information of this kind is not trickling down to the local communities.

To appease these and the other primary concerns mentioned here there were many calls at a grassroot level for a more obvious and accessible central government supervisory presence in the affected areas. And the government efforts at all levels should continue to be bolstered by the civil society initiatives, which were widely praised. Multiple grassroot organisations, as well as domestic and international non-governmental organisations, have been playing a solid role in the wider area of community recovery and development in the two years since the quake. Similarly, media outlets, both domestic and international, have been granted wide access to the affected areas and have proved invaluable in increasing the wider level of understanding of the regional issues. Their work should be applauded and encouraged, particularly now, two years after the event, when the focus might be inclined to shift elsewhere.

In Sichuan, much great work has been done over the past 24 months, and many people have been able to rebuild their lives in a comparatively short space of time. But the fact remains that with such a huge number of people affected, even if a small percentage fall through the support net, that number could amount to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of victims. Those that have the potential to fall through the net need to know they will not be forgotten two, three or more years after the disaster. They need all our support.

Report also available to download in PDF format.

MSF assessment of relocated Yushu earthquake victim conditions

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders) has relayed its assessment of the current and potential problems for those people who have been relocated to tent villages following the Yushu earthquake of 14 April 2010.

Although food and shelter for the survivors are not currently problems, health needs are significant. General surgeon Daiki Murakami was the medical coordinator of the assessment team. Hygiene problems should be considered. In these large camps for displaced people there is little waste management and they definitely need more latrines. At the moment there are not many severe infections or diarrhea, but in the following weeks such kind of disease could happen so this should be addressed urgently, said Daiki.

In addition, children could benefit from post trauma counselling, Daiki said. According to a teacher I met in a school, some children are behaving strangely, completely differently than normal. Some children start laughing suddenly, other start suddenly crying. Some seem depressed and many of them cannot sleep well. This is all likely linked to the earthquake, said Daiki.

Work on new buildings begins in Guangji, as does flu season

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

After completing the reinforcements and laying the new playground and car park up at SQR’s Guangji Kindergarten and Community Centre project, the next phase was immediately begun. A brand new building will not only replace one that was damaged beyond repair, but expand and improve on it too. The building will contain new classrooms, a dormitory for that all-important nap time, a kitchen capable of feeding 140 hungry mouths each and every day, and an environmental toilet.

Work has begun on the new buildings at the Guangji kindergarten Work has begun on the new buildings at the Guangji kindergarten Work continues on the new buildings at the Guangji kindergarten

Meanwhile, flu season is here. Principal Kang and her staff keep an eye on their students to make sure no one is neither unduly suffering nor spreading the illness to their classmates. Temperatures are taken as the students arrive at school every morning — any sign of fever and the parents or grandparents are advised to take them back home or to the local clinic.

Until now the staff had been using traditional thermometers, which is not ideal when handling such a large number of people. On one of our regular visits to the school, SQR brought along a brand new non-contact thermometer, which can accurately read the temperature from a few centimetres away, in under a second. The new gadget not only brings a hygenic benefit, but the added speed means the staff can give the grandparents a quick temperature-check too.

Checking temperatures

Disabilities in China

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

A recent article in the New York Times about a controversial theme park in Kunming, Yunnan Province, contained some statistics which highlight the need for organisations such as Heart Starting Point:

Better than two in five disabled adults in China are illiterate, according to a 2006 survey by the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, a government agency. The average salary of a disabled worker is less than half that of a non-disabled worker. Only one-third of disabled people who need rehabilitation services have access to them, the survey found.

Professionals trained to aid the disabled are desperately scarce: Europe has 185 times as many physiotherapists per person as China, according to a 2008 study by Renmin University in Beijing.

Still, some indicators are improving. The number of disabled people receiving low-income benefits jumped to more than seven million in 2008 from fewer than four million in 2005.

Nearly three in four children with disabilities attended school in 2008, compared with about three in five just two years earlier. The number of disabled students in universities and technical colleges in 2008 increased by 50 percent over 2006. Still, they amounted to a mere handful, just one out of every 5,000 students.

Heart Starting Point (Xin Qicheng), grassroots disabled rights organisation

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Huang Li was at home alone in Dujiangyan when the earthquake struck. Pinned under the rubble of her collapsed building, she remained trapped and undiscovered for 96 hours. She says the thought of her 9-year-old son losing his mother kept her alive for so long. Eventually, after four days of searching by local police, firefighters from Yunnan Province and volunteers, Ms. Huang was rescued and rushed to hospital. The extent of her injuries left doctors no choice but to amputate both of her legs and her left arm.

Through months of rehabilitation and treatment, Ms. Huang has retained her warmth and strength of spirit, and resolved to improve the lives of people with disabilities in China. With the support of Dujiangyan Disabled Persons’ Federation and the Department of Civil Affairs, she founded a disabled rights organisation called Heart Starting Point (HSP; their name in Chinese is Xin Qicheng: “xin” means “heart” and “qicheng” is “to begin a journey”). Her husband, Deng Ze Hong, gave up his popular out-of-town restaurant to be Ms. Huang’s full-time carer and co-director of HSP. He attends to every aspect of his wife’s life without complaint, despite suffering back strain from lifting her in and out of bed. “I’ve chosen the right guy,” says Ms. Huang, smiling. They are still living in temporary accommodation but expect to be back in their rebuilt home before the second anniversary of the disaster.

HSP was established to build on “the enormous support from all areas of society that helped us out of the shadow of fear and sorrow,” says Ms. Huang. “We hope we can show people, through our own experiences, that even though we are disabled, we still embrace life, and we can create wealth and value for this society.” It aims to support not only earthquake victims, but also people who were disabled before or since the disaster.

One of the primary missions of the organisation is to develop the means for disabled people to earn a living. So far they have opened a small workshop that trains people in the art of traditional Qiang Minority embroidery and other handicraft skills, setting up outlets as far away as Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai to sell the work. There are now more than ten disabled people creating beautiful designs to support themselves.

One of the hard-working cross-stitchers is 18-year-old Meng Hongmei from nearby Hanwang Town. She lost both legs because of injuries sustained in the earthquake, causing not only physical but severe psychological distress. Slowly, through informal counselling from Huang Li and others similarly affected, she has grown in confidence, come to terms with her injuries, and has learnt to walk again with the use of artificial legs. She has made new friends through HSP and enjoys her new creative outlet immensely.

Other important aspects of HSP’s work are to encourage the adoption of disabled access and facilities in local businesses and public areas; to help other groups and organisations to provide medical and psychological assistance to disabled people in the area; and help allocate funding (either raised themselves or donated by other organisations) to those that need it most.

HSP has established a growing network of people with disabilities in Dujiangyan — almost 200 members and counting — providing a hub of information about services help available, mostly disseminated through home-visits as part of their community outreach.

With their strong desire to improve society, not only in terms of the needs of disabled people, but also to show that they are just as valuable members of their community as able-bodied people, HSP has an important and long-term mission ahead of it, and SQR hopes they continue to grow and make a strong contribution to social development.

The Heart Starting Point (心启程) team with two of the SQR staff

See also: SQR’s Re-granting project.

SAME Camps – huge success in difficult circumstances.

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

360 volunteers from China and abroad taught more than 4000 kids in 13 camps organised by SQR in various locations around the affected areas.

The SAME (Sports, Arts, Music, English) camps have been hugely oversubscribed, both in terms of those attending and in terms of volunteers, and have been a lot of fun, a lot of hard work and well worth the effort put in by all involved.

SQR sends huge thanks to all our volunteers who worked under difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions.

This summer in the quake zone, there have been large aftershocks, horrendous rock and mud slides, and many bridges and roads in the area were blocked.  The extraordinary torrential rains caused 11,000 homes to collapse in the past week alone, and scores of local residents died.  It is a timely reminder that, whilst incredible progress has been made in the reconstruction effort, there is still an enormous amount of work to be done in building up an effective infrastructure in this beautiful area, in terms of roads, bridges, schools, clinics, hospitals and other facilities.

All volunteers were camping, with no hot water available.  To compensate, however, there was often a plentiful supply of warm buzzing mosquitoes (thanks to them for committing to the project), and heavy rains on tap pretty much permanently in recent weeks.  The volunteers and kids showed great good humour and determination to enjoy themselves.

For the volunteers, life really was not easy at times, but they managed to keep the kids occupied and entertained for a week at a time, which is an achievement in any conditions at all.  It is wonderful to see such a tremendous effort from so many people, from students on holidays, from people giving up time from work and their families to help out, from people travelling large distances from all over the country and all over the world to make a contribution.  The SAME (Sports, Arts, Music, English) camps have made a difference.

Thanks to the hundreds of people who contacted SQR to volunteer, and thanks to those we said ‘no’ to as well – there were simply too many volunteers.  To stay in the loop for future volunteering opportunities, email mark@sichuan-quake-relief.org to be included on the SQR newsletter mailing list.

If you took part in the camps and have stories and photos, please email mark@sichuan-quake-relief and we’ll get them up on our Flickr account (www.flickr.com/sichuanquakerelief) and on the SQR website (www.sichuan-quake-relief.org)

Thanks again

SQR

Training courses for emergency situations

Monday, July 20th, 2009

Training courses in Chengdu for emergency situations

本报讯(记者石小宏 实习生 陈黎)面对突发的地震、火灾、水灾等灾害,如何在黄金自救时间里运用救生包?20日,在华西医院与香港理工大学护理学院联合举办的华夏高等护理教育联盟暑期灾害护理培训班上,教师给来自内地和香港41所高校护理专业近200名学生出的第一道题。

为期两周的培训,主要是普及灾害理论以及灾害自救护理。举办这样的培训班,目的是让学员们学会灾害中的自救护理,并把这些知识传给更多的人群。

Chengdu-based ‘nursing in emergency situations’ course for mainland Chinese and Hong Kong trainees.

A summer vacation course in ‘nursing in emergency situations’ has been held by Chengdu’s Hua Xi Hospital and Hong Kong Polytechnic University (香港理工大学).

During the course, the first question asked of the 200 students from the mainland and 41 Hong Kong students the first question is, “how can you use a survival kit effectively in case of an earthquake, fire, flood or other major disaster?”

The main aim of the two-week course is how individuals can deal with disasters and protect themselves in emergency situations.  The idea is that the course trainees learn survival and first aid techniques, knowledge which they can then pass on to other people.

First SQR SAME Camp a success: a report from the project manager

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

June 28 – July 3 SQR SAME Summer Camp Session 1 at GuangJi Township near Mianzhu

Last week 7 enthusiastic SQR volunteers trekked up to GuangJi to set up the first SAME Summer Camp at GuangJi Township near Mianzhu (2hrs from Chengdu). The GuangJi Kindergarten and Preschool was chosen as our first location because SQR already had an existing relationship with the school principal, Kang Laoshi (‘laoshi’ = ‘teacher’). SQR is actively coordinating the demolition and rebuilding of one of the buildings damaged in last year’s quake.

The 7 volunteers consisted of international students (an American and Brazilian) as well as local Sichuan university students and recent grads. We met on Sunday afternoon at the Bookworm for a short meeting to discuss the upcoming week’s plans then set off by van to GuangJi, arriving by early evening to meet with Kang Laoshi and discuss the week’s schedule and lesson plans.

Our accommodation were more than adequate in that Kang laoshi allowed us to sleep in the temporary classrooms next door to the permanent buildings. It was quite comfortable since we were provided beds and linen and had access to lighting and electricity. The worst inconvenience was the occassional mosquito bite.

The first morning and day began well with the local teachers starting the kids off with morning exercises and dances to loosen up kids for an active day of learning. It was wonderful to see, and I took loads of pictures.

Throughout the day the SQR volunteers conducted their teaching modules in Sports, Art, Music and English; working alongside the local teachers and adjusting our lesson plans to tailor to the school children’s various levels. In that sense, the volunteers are challenged to adapt quickly and be flexible to the needs of the children.

During the second night at camp a 5.6 quake struck nearby Mianzhu shaking us out of bed, but luckily no major damage was inflicted. Indeed it was a stark reminder of why we were there in the first place. Less than 12 hours later an aftershock of 5.0 occurred during napping time for the kids. The local teachers and SQR volunteers quickly scrambled to evacuate the children from the permanent building and arrange for classes to be conducted in the temporary classrooms the rest of the week. Seeing some of the children distraught and crying from the quake gave us another reminder of why we were there.

The remaining week went on smoothly. The classes and activities were fun and interesting for the kids and the experience gained by the volunteers was challenging yet every bit rewarding and life enriching.

I am lucky to have been apart of such a wonderful experience and will remember and cherish it forever. During our last dinner with Kang laoshi, I thanked her for everything she had done for us and told her that “Sichuan will forever be in our hearts.”

Leeman Now
SQR SAME Summer Camp Project Mgr
The Chinese University of HK, MBA 2011

The first SAME camp of 2009 was a success

The first SAME camp of 2009 was a success, or "A range of high marks for the ballroom dancers."

First of professional nursing facility completed a construction project in Sichuan earthquake-stricken district

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

The first of professional nursing facility completed a construction project in Sichuan earthquake-stricken district (Xinhua, writer: Zhou Runjian)

Journalists have got news from Hetong Old Age Welfare Association in Tianjin city that the Chinese Red Cross Foundation helped Hetong Old Age Welfare Association with indiscriminate subsidies to design and build the foundation of the Hetong nursing facility of the Red Cross in Ziyan, Mianzhu.

This is the first of professional nursing facilities of reconstruction project in earthquake-stricken area, which aimed at helping the old and childless, the orphaned and disabled.

The Hetong nursing facility, located at 602 Yufei Road Jiannan town, Mianzhu city, which is one of the reconstruction projects.  The organization covers an area of 900 square metres. The facility has 10 units of 2 to 4 rooms with 40 beds.

Donation appeal. Qima township: money required for reconstruction, schools, Children’s Day, and basic medicines

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

Poverty is inevitably still a huge problem, given the impact of the earthquake on areas which were living at subsistence level.

Information about Qima Township in Qingchuan obtained by SQR in the past few days.

Basic Situation

6 hours drive from Chengdu, 1 hour from Qinchuan County. The road connecting villages and townships can get rather muddy when rains but accessible.

The nearest NGO (World Vision International, which set up its office there before the earthquake) working in Qingchuan is in Qiaozhuang Township, 1 hour drive away from Qima.

There are 8000 residents, many of them are suffering from rheumatism, cholelithiasis, gall-stones, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The township does have a public clinic but only with limited facilities and meds, so the doctors working there are not able to treat illnesses like these.

According to the figures collected by a local volunteer, there are 600+ patients who cannot afford even ordinary medical services. This group of people consists mostly of elderly people without children or living by themselves while children are working somewhere else.

Progress of reconstruction is uneven. Better-off families have already had their new houses built and have moved in. However, many families just finished the foundation part as to claim the subsidy (the policy is that full subsidy is issued only to families that begin reconstruction before 12th May 2009). Some people, as in Caopo, have been using the subsidy or micro-credit to cover their basic necessities, rather than to reconstruct their houses.

There is one central primary school (1-9 grade), and four village primary schools, with 704 students in total. Grades 1 to 3 include 48 preschool students and 48 students from the village primary schools.

The village primary schools provide classes for one specific group only: for Grade 1 students who live too far away from the central school and cannot afford to live in a school dormitory, and each has around 10-20 students.

Students now have classes in a row of prefabricated houses. More than 400 of them live in villages far from this school. They do not pay tuition fees but do have to buy ‘meal tickets’ that are used to buy meals in the school dining room, the cost of which ranges from 80 to 200 per month, depending on the financial situation of students’ families.

Recent Activities
1. Children’s Day

Various people (contacts of SQR) are going to Qima Primary School on the Children’s Day. The school will have its own activities in the morning, and then the students have their own in the afternoon. One suggestion is for 4-7 people to visit the children to organise activities for them. The thing these people need help with is to buy gifts for the 704 students and to fund the delivery.

2. Jun 28th free-of-charge medical consultation

SQR’s contact, Yang, said he’ll notify the locals to come to the central village that day, and will bring a couple of nurses and doctors there. The consultation takes one or two days. Help is needed getting medicine for this trip.

SQR is waiting for the list, and will make it available to those who are willing to help out.

Chengdu Sports Aid visit Qipangou, north Chengdu.

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
20090418_19_fredman_SQR_bballrun_QipangouChengduSportsAid 20090418_19_fredman_SQR_rugbylaugh_QipangouChengduSportsAid 20090418_19_fredman_SQR_groupshot_QipangouChengduSportsAid 20090418_19_fredman_SQR_owen2_QipangouChengduSportsAid 20090418_19_fredman_SQR_tugowarleap_QipangouChengduSportsAid 20090418_19_fredman_SQR_whistle_QipangouChengduSportsAid

On Sunday 19th April 2009, Chengdu Sports Aid visited Qipangou School, in the north of Chengdu.

Approximately 30 volunteers organised games and sports for the kids there, who have been displaced by the May 12th 2008 quake, and will have to wait to return to their home town/village schools until they have been reconstructed, which may take years, such was the extent of the devastation.

Chengdu Sports Aid volunteers met at 8:45am on Sunday outside the Chengdu Bookworm and took a bus to the school. On the way, JD, team leader for the day, split the volunteers into sports/games groups, with team leaders for football (soccer), touch rugby, badminton, basketball, skipping/jumping and others. The emphasis is on providing organised and structured activities for the kids, as well as having a lot of fun and exercise.

The photos show that these aims were all achieved. The trip was such a success that regular visits will now be made to Qipangou by the group. Chengdu Sports Aid will also visit other schools, with SQR helping to liaise and coordinate.

If you would like to volunteer for Chengdu Sports Aid, check out the CSA Volunteers Google Groups, or email csa@sichuan-quake-relief.org.

All photos from the 18th and 19th April 2009 from Qipangou copyright Ben Fredman. (Ben went with local students on Saturday, and with Chengdu Sports Aid/SQR/Where There Be Dragons on Sunday).

20090413: Xinhua: Employment, social support in the aftermath

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Feature: Restless recovery on post-quake Sichuan

www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-12 13:35:26

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/12/content_11172347.htm

By Gong Yidong, China Features

BEIJING, April 12 (Xinhua) — Liu Daihe, 43, lights a cigarette passed by his cousin Liu Daishu and spreads the mahjong tiles over the table. Puffing smoke into the 20-square-meter temporary house, he settles down to idle away another day with friends and relatives.

It is a typical snapshot on the 11,000-household interim community to the north of Mianzhu, one of the most damaged cities of the May 12 earthquake that left more than 80,000 Chinese dead or missing. Liu and the 40,000 inhabitants are enveloped in an atmosphere of both hope and ennui that contrasts with a clearly felt grief eight months ago.

Demands of life
Before the catastrophe, Liu was a phosphorous miner for many years at Qingping town of Mianzhu. But the mine, one of the local pillar industries, was swallowed by the quake along with Liu’s job.
As the breadwinner of the family, Liu looked for jobs elsewhere, but was turned down because of his age. “I’m not competitive on the market. More importantly, I don’t have technical skills, except from doing hard labor in the pit.”
The assistance is also dwindling. Last year, the government handed out 200 yuan per person a month for eight months and 33.5 kilograms of grain per head for three months, but all the financial and material support ended in January, says Liu. “Nowadays, around 15 percent of the people in the community live on what they had before,” his cousin says.
The price of commodities has climbed due to rising transport costs, and Liu and his wife, Chen Mingfang, have to rack their brains to make ends meet.
What worries the couple most is their 14-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter, who are studying at secondary school.
Changying, the daughter, will take the national college entrance examination this summer, meaning a lot of money will be needed if she is enrolled into university. This term alone, she paid 2,000-plus yuan for tuition fees and living expenses.
Her brother, Chenglin, pays 9 yuan a day for three meals in the school canteen as part of a boarder scheme.
Liu’s mother-in-law, who lives under the same roof, is covered by neither a pension nor the rural cooperative medical care. Liu is relieved that the past winter was mild compared with the previous year.

“Otherwise, she might have caught a severe cold,” he says.

In the end, Liu was forced to accept employment in a private mine hundreds of miles away in Yibin, southern Sichuan, where he was paid 80 yuan a day to work from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m..

The pay was satisfactory, but the toil and loneliness in a strange city were intolerable. The man of few words killed time by playing mahjong with his colleagues, and sometimes, small-time gambling.

Unlike many parts of Sichuan where the natural conditions are harsh, Mianzhu has fewer people moving to big cities like Beijing or Guangzhou for job opportunities.

“Before the quake, Mianzhu was blessed with favorable conditions, with no storms or landslides, and most of us preferred to stay in our hometown,” says Liu Daishu.

Adding to their sense of security was the multitude of industries sprawling across the city, such as the national key companies Dongfang Turbine, Lonmon Chemicals and Jiannanchun Distillery, which absorbed a large number of local workers.” We are used to the pace of ease here,” says Daishu.

Statistics from the Bureau of Labor Resources and Social Security of Mianzhu confirm that around 20,000 people are working outside Sichuan Province, accounting less than one tenth the total labor force.

Before the Spring Festival, Liu returned and worked at another small mine in the adjacent city of Shifang, which was set up by one of his fellow villagers.

20090401: Xinhua: Beichuan opened for 4 days for Tomb Sweeping Day

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Quake-leveled China county opens to mourners
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-01 20:34:20

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/01/content_11115060.htm

Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
BEICHUAN, Sichuan, April 1 (Xinhua) — The barbed wire around Beichuan’s old county seat was gone.
The county that perished in last year’s devastating earthquake reopened Wednesday morning to former residents who wished to mourn the dead ahead of the annual tomb sweeping day that falls on Saturday.
Beichuan County, which has been closed since May 20 last year, will be open for four days until Saturday.
The mourning crowd began pouring into the dead county at 7 a.m. Policemen checked everyone’s ID to make sure only natives of Beichuan were allowed into the county.
Most mourners brought incense, candles and bouquet to the ruins of former schools, homes and offices, shed tears, and spent a few hours with the deceased.
Thousands of white paper flowers and heart-shaped cards were tied to the fence encircling the collapsed building of Beichuan High School in memory of the students and teachers killed in the quake.
“I burnt some paper money for my wife last week, from atop a hill that overlooks the old county seat,” said Qiao Hong, 34. “It was her birthday.”
Almost 11 months after the disaster, Qiao was still hesitant to go back to his old place, fearing memories of his past would haunt him.
“I feel my son is still there, waiting for me to take him home from kindergarten.”
The mother and son were among at least 4,700 people listed as “missing” under the rubble of Beichuan. Plus the 15,600 confirmed deaths, the county lost two-thirds of its population in the quake.
Wednesday’s reopening of the ghost town was a real challenge for the local government. Sanitation workers had to sterilize the ruins that used to be homes, schools, teahouses and workshops; health workers and ambulances stood by, ready to provide first-aid to the grieving mourners.
The county government had to clean the streets leading to the old county seat of vendors, mostly quake survivors who eked out living selling postcards of the quake site, incense and “paper money” for the dead.
The government also arranged 10 buses that offered free rides for the mourners to travel from their new homes in the nearby city of Mianyang.
About one kilometer from his son’s kindergarten was Qiao Hong’s home, a green apartment building that used to house dozens of workers from the county’s telecom company. The building remained intact but entry was forbidden for safety considerations.
Qiao looked around and saw no policemen on patrol.
“I want to get home for a quick look,” he told reporters who followed him into the building.
A deserted PC blocked the way on the second floor. Qiao recognized it was his own. “Someone stole it,” he said.
The door to his third-floor apartment was open and the place was half empty. Before the county was closed, Qiao and his neighbors were given a few days to take away their belongings.
He didn’t take his wedding photo. So the couple remained smiling on their bedroom wall, with Qiao in a suit and tie and his wife, Mu Chunyan, in a white wedding gown.
The bedroom floor was piled with love letters he wrote to his wife nearly 20 years ago.
“We were classmates at high school,” he said, ignoring reporters’ question why he hadn’t taken the letters to his new home.
Qiao avoided entering his son’s bedroom, fearing he might collapse at the sight of the picture books and toys on the floor.
He spent 30 minutes searching through a pile of books on the balcony, before he took out two: one on gardening and the other on computer engineering.
Accidentally, he found a few pictures of his wife and son, which he carefully put away.
Qiao said he would come back home Saturday, the official tomb sweeping day.
“Any plans for the future? I don’t know for sure. Maybe I’ll marry again, sometime next year, have a child and try to live the way I used to live.”
Qiao has a girlfriend, who has been cooking and doing most household chores for him for six months.
“But it is not ripe yet.”

20090325: Green Leaves for Yan Daiyu!

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Just a quick post to say that Yan Daiyu, apart from being in the care of her own family, is now having the Green Leaves Foundation seek treatment and funding options for her.  For more information on the Green Leaves Foundation, go to the NGOs page and scroll down .

20090323: news about Yan Daiyu

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

News from Yan Daiyu:
This morning we met with Yan Daiyu, her father, Yan Shifu, and her stepmother at Hua Xi 2nd Hospital in Chengdu.
After an initial consultation with the doctor, during which Daiyu was quite scared and did not dare to say a word, we made our way through the crowded hallways of the hospital to get her blood test.

The director of the department, Mr. Gao Ju, explained that it was very likely that Daiyu has a form of Leukemia called APL (Acute promyelocytic leukemia) or M3. To make sure this is the right diagnosis the hospital will have to make a bone marrow puncture/ asparation on Monday morning. We checked Daiyu into the hospital where she started treatment for her flu, since her immune system has to be as strong as possible for the chemotherapy.
After the bone marrow puncture the doctor will be able to tell us more about the following treatment and how her chances are.
If she really has APL she will have to take medicine (ATRA Treatment) for a couple of weeks and then start a course of hemotherapy that will last about one to one-and-a-half months.
The chances of long-term survival are over 50 % in China.

We stayed with the family for most of the day and had our first success with getting attention from the media.
Chengdu TV came to the hospital to interview Yan Daiyu, her father, Yuanyuan and me.
Since Yan Daiyus parents separated a long time ago she lives with her father and stepmom, which might make finding a person for a possible bone marrow transfusion harder.  Luckily Chengdu TV said they would try to find the mother, who is living with two of Yan Daiyu’s siblings.

So far SQR has paid the hospital and the family around 3500 RMB which will cover the first days in the hospital, living expenses and the bone marrow puncture.
The positive news of the day is that the total cost will probably not be as high as the countryside hospital said.
Right now it seems like the total cost will be around 70.000 RMB, though it is not possible to get any definite answers at the moment, since we have to wait for the final diagnosis on Monday till we will be able to know the exact treatment Yan Daiyu will need.  Sadly, experience shows that initial estimates of funds required tend to be lower than the actual funds required, but SQR will keep updating the information on Yan Daiyu’s case.  The family is still living in their self build shed and the doctor said if the treatment goes well the chances of survival are also influenced by her living conditions.  It’s a case of taking one step at a time.
The other positive news today is that we left Yan Daiyu smiling, giving a hearty kiss on the cheek after a day of drawing, singing and playing together.

20090320: Yan Daiyu – leukemia diagnosis. 70,000 rmb needed, or more.

Friday, March 20th, 2009

20090319_YENDaiyu_family_1 Through the principal of a Kindergarten in Guangji (close to LuoShui) that Sichuan Quake Relief is rebuilding, SQR met a little girl today who has been diagnosed with Leukemia ten days ago. Her name is Yan Daiyu and she is seven years old. Her parents brought her to Renmin Hospital in Mianzhu were she was diagnosed with leukemia. After a couple of days the Yan Daiyu had to leave the hospital, since her parents could not even afford to pay the 20.000 RMB the hospital asked for the first diagnosis and treatment.
The house the parents, grandparents and Yan Daiyu used to live in was completely destroyed during the quake, now the whole family lives in a small shed they built themselves. Both parents have lost their job and cannot afford to rebuild the house or pay for their daughter’s treatment. The father said he didn’t care about rebuilding the house he just wants his daughter to get treatment and would do anything to make that possible.

When we met the family they hadn’t properly eaten in three days and were desperate for help. Neither media nor government has been able or interested to help so far. We left the family with 3000 RMB so they could buy food, but aren’t able to fund the treatment or rebuilding. We are getting will meet with doctors from HuaXi hospital tomorrow to talk about Yan Daiyu’s situation, cost etc.

To stand an actual chance Yan Daiyu would have to start treatment in HuaXi Hospital in Chengdu as soon as possible. The total cost of this would be around 500.000 RMB.

If anybody has questions or knows any company, individual or NGO that would be interested in funding the treatment please contact us as soon as possible. Also, please forward this information and spread the news about Yan Daiyu.

[IMPORTANT NOTE: the title of this story was edited on Monday 23rd March 2009 to reflect the changing estimates of the  level of funding required.  As the next blog entry illustrates, it is difficult to estimate costs, and experience has shown that initial estimates can be on the low side. SQR will keep updated with the latest estimates of funding required.]

20090303: Xinhua: Macao SAR to finance reconstruction projects

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Macao SAR to finance 10 reconstruction projects
2009-03-03  来源:新华网

On Tuesday 3rd March 2009, Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) signed an agreement with China’s quake-hit Sichuan province, which will see the SAR finance 10 reconstruction projects in Guangyuan city, Sichuan, according to a press release from the SAR government.

The 10 projects include the rebuilding of roads, bridges, river embankment, and sewage treatment works in Guangyuan city, for which the SAR government will allocate 687 million yuan (102 million U.S. dollars), according to the press release.
The agreement was signed in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu by Chui Sai On, the Macao SAR’s Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, and representatives of the Sichuan Provincial Government.
The 8.0-magnitude quake centered in Sichuan’s Wenchuan County, which took place on May 12 last year, left more than 69,000 people dead, 374,000 injured, 18,000 missing and millions homeless, according to official statistics.
The government of the Macao SAR has already signed a general agreement with the Sichuan provincial government, under which the SAR will finance the reconstruction projects in the quake-stricken province located in south western China. According to the agreement, Macao SAR will spend an amount of 5.5 billion patacas (688 million U.S. dollars) funding the rebuilding projects in some counties of Sichuan.
The Macao SAR government initiated the financing of seven reconstruction projects in Guanyuan last year, and, with the agreement to finance the above 10 projects signed, a total of 17 Macao-financed rebuilding projects in Guangyuan have been launched so far, according to the press release.
After completing the financial arrangements of the 17 projects, the SAR government said it would continue to assess another 19 rebuilding projects mainly of education and sports facilities.

20090304: 6.3 billion RMB shortfall in funds for reconstruction of medical and sanitation facilities

Monday, March 9th, 2009

四川灾区医疗重建资金缺口63亿 工程进度缓慢

来源:四川在线

According to a teleconference of Sichuan medical-sanitation institute on 3rd March 2009, there was a 6.3 billion RMB shortfall in funds for the reconstruction of medical and sanitation facilities. By 27th Feb, only 522 projects had been completed, which accounted for 12.65% of the initial plan. According to Chen Wenhua, vice-governor of Sichuan government, progress in the reconstruction of medical-sanitation facilities has been relatively slow, compared to other public facilities.
“With the current progress, it is rather difficult to complete all these reconstruction projects in only 10 months, and it will get harder and harder,” said Chen.  By 27th February 2009, in the 1252 projects that had already received capital from central or provincial government, only 425 of them were under construction or already finished. 10 counties that were identified as “tremendously affected counties” had no projects ongoing.
So how did the lag happen when sufficient subsidies had already arrived? Chen Wenhua had concluded:
Firstly, some local government have not attached sufficient priorty to medical-sanitation projects. Responsibilities were not well defined. Secondly, other public facility projects were given priority in some counties. Last but not least, the imbalance of capital distributed between different counties has substantially hampered progress on reconstruction, which means the general “sufficient subsidies” was actually not enough for certain projects.
To further explain the last point, Chen emphasized that the lack of progress/funds was partially the result of the high construction standards that some local government prescribed, which were not accounted for when budgets were issued centrally.
Chen pointed out that it is vital to define the responsibilities of each level and department of the government in the face of all the demanding work and the tight schedule – all reconstruction work of medical-sanitation institutions must be in progress by the end of March 2009; reinforcement needs to be completed before July; and by the end of 2009, all the newly built town and township clinics must be in operation.

今(3)日,记者从四川省地震灾区医疗卫生机构恢复重建电视电话会议上获悉,全省医疗卫生机构恢复重建资金总缺口约63亿元,截至2月27日,全省在建及竣工项目522个,占规划的12.65%,与其他公共设施恢复重建进度相比,副省长陈文华称:“全省医疗卫生机构的恢复重建工程进度相对缓慢。”
“如果依照目前进度,要在仅有的10个月时间内,基本完成重建,任务十分繁重,难度越来越大”,陈文华说,截止2月27日,在国定和省定重灾县,已经落实资金的1252个项目中,在建和竣工项目仅有425个,有10个县没有开工项目。
资金已经到位,工程为何滞后?陈文华总结了3个原因:一是部分地方政府重视不够,主体责任不到位,“等、靠、要”的思想依然存在。二是一些地方未按要求优先重建医疗卫生机构,国定重灾县间存在明显的资金不均衡现象,资金不足及资金落实不平衡的问题,已经严重影响恢复重建进度。三是部分项目建设标准有所突破,超出了国家的前期批复内容。

陈文华说:“在目前任务重、时间紧的情况下,有必要再次明确各级各部门应承担的职责。”
3月底前市级、县级医疗卫生机构要开工,年底前基本完成主体工程建设;6月底以前,医疗卫生机构维修加固工作要全部完工;年底前,乡镇卫生院建设项目要全部完工并投入使用。

20090226: Water purification project in Shengli Village

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

北川擂鼓:新加坡援建饮水项目竣工,第一个村办企业投产
2009-02-26  来源:中国新闻网

26th Feb 2009, a water supply project that funded by Lian’s, a Singapore NGO, was officially implemented. The water-purify system that cost nearly 2 million RMB can reverse-osmose 60 cubic metres of water and ultra-filtrate 180 cubic metres, which is sufficient for 10 thousand Ligu residents’ daily water usage. Water that is processed by reverse osmosis can be drunk directly without boiling.
On the same day, a water-purification factory was put into production in Shengli Village, Leigu, Beichuan County. This factory, like the residents of the village, has received great deal of support from Lian’s, and became the first village-run factory ‘back to work’ in Beichuan’s reconstruction work and the first in Shengli Village’s history.
It is expected that the factory can provide 120 thousand bottles of purified water every day, 7.2 million RMB yearly profit and 20-100 jobs to local people.

二十六日,新加坡连氏援助组织援建四川省绵阳市北川县擂鼓镇地震极重灾区饮水项目正式投入使用。这组造价近二百万元人民币的饮用水净化系统,每天可通过反渗透技术处理六十立方米和超滤一百八十立方米的饮用水,可解决擂鼓镇一万人的饮水问题。
据悉,通过这种反渗透技术处理过的水,可以不用煮沸而直接饮用,解决了灾区临时生活区的饮水难问题。
同日,日产60吨纯净水生产车间的北川县擂鼓镇胜利村纯净水厂投产。该厂在建设中得到了新加坡连援组织的大力协助,是北川县地震后恢复重建的第一个投入生产的村办企业,也结束了胜利村无集体企业的历史。
该厂投产后,日产12万瓶纯净水,一年可获经济收入720万元,同时解决30至100名农民的就业。