aftershock « Sichuan Quake Relief (SQR)

Posts Tagged ‘aftershock’

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, or "A range of high marks for the ballroom dancers."

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Tags:aftershock, demolition, evacuate, Guangji, Guangji kindergarten, Hong Kong, Kang laoshi, kindergarten, Leeman Now, Mianzhu, SAME, Sports Arts Music English, summer camp, temporary accommodation, volunteers
Posted in Arts, Childcare, Civil society, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Living conditions, Psychological health, Seismic activity, Social welfare, SQR Activities | No Comments »

20090219: Mianyang: Tianjiashan quake lake drainage

Friday, February 27th, 2009

唐家山堰塞湖水位高将清淤和开挖泄流槽
2009-02-19 来源：四川在线-华西都市报
According to a source at the Mianyang City government, silt drainage of the Tangjiashan quake-lake is about to start, which is planned to be implemented in two phases, with an investment of a total of 160 million rmb.
The water level of Tangjiashan Quake Lake has now stabilised at 718 metres, which is lower than it was shortly after the September 24th flood. However the Chengdu Investigation and Design Research Institute of China Hydropower Advisory Group, on the basis of various measurements and tests, urges caution: the lake still post threats to people downstream. Experts underlined that constant heavy rain and aftershock worryingly increased the possibility of mudslide that would cause massive siltation and consequent flooding.
As yet, there is no easy access to this area, and the restoration program recommended in the current feasibility report would be very challenging. In essence, the plan is to excavate deep division channels, leaving 70-80 metre side slopes on 2 banks that consist of silted rock fragments, presenting considerable risk.
In line with the set plan, drainage and clear-up needs to be completed before the flooding season this year, which is a major part of the first phase of the entire project. Deformation inspection, facility installation and construction of levees are required to be finished by the end of 2009.
The estimated total investment of the whole project is approximately 160.41 million, specifically, 52.75 for the first stage and 107.66 for the second.

唐家山堰塞湖目前水位仍高居718米。

“9·24”洪灾后，中国水电顾问集团成都勘测设计研究院受委托，对唐家山堰塞湖一带进行了大量野外勘探、测量、试验等工作，形成结论：唐家山堰塞体整体稳定，但在持续强降雨或强余震等不利工况作用下，两岸边坡特别是堰塞体右岸一些冲沟存在滑坡、崩塌、泥石流等易发山地灾害，若泥石流造成泄流槽较大规模淤堵，有可能产生次生灾害，对下游防洪安全造成严重威胁，并也可能对上游治城灾后重建防洪保安带来影响。

在进场道路未通的情况下，目前制定的“可研报告”推荐的整治方案不确定性因素较多，工程量大，实施难度很高。“可研报告”中按照治城二十年一遇防洪要求，推荐对泄流槽进行大开挖，估计两岸开挖边坡将高达70—80米，且为夹泥碎裂岩，存在安全隐患。

按计划，第一期整治项目包括泄流槽淤塞体的清淤、堰塞体左右山体变形观测和禹里乡治城防洪堤护岸工程。其中，泄流清淤要求在今年主汛期前完成，变形观测设施安装和防洪堤修建要求在2009年底前完成。

整治工程投资估算16041万元，其中：第一期工程投资5275万元，第二期工程投资10766万元。

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Tags:aftershock, China Hydropower Advisory Group, drain, excavation, flood, Mianyang, quake lake, restoration program, silt, Tianjiashan
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Facilities reconstruction, Infrastructure, Investment, Local government, Official news source | No Comments »

20090106: Xinhua: Quake roads ‘all now reopened’

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Quake roads “all now reopened”
Xinhua 2009-01-06 09:08:07

Standing beside the flowing Minjiang River, Li Linxian made his New Year’s wish: finishing his hardest-ever mission as soon as possible.
As a construction worker with the Sichuan Road & Bridge Group (SRBG), Li and his 44 workmates have been working on the road between Dujiangyan and Wenchuan, the epicenter of the May earthquake, for nearly eight months.
“We have never left the road since the third day after the massive quake destroyed it,” Li said, noting this has been the most challenging mission in his roughly two-decade long career.
Yesterday, construction workers in Sichuan’s quake-hit regions got the best reward, as the provincial government announced that all the roads destroyed by the May earthquake have reopened.
The 12-km-long road that links the village of Zhitai, is located about 15 km north of the epicenter in Wenchuan county, to the No 317 national highway has been reopened, the provincial government said on its website.
That means all the 2,384 affected roads in the province have resumed operation, it said.
According to media reports, the massive quake has affected or destroyed 22,000 km of roads in Sichuan.
The government also said it will continue focusing on road maintenance in the future.
Known as the eastern route, the 82-km road between Dujiangyan and Wenchuan was almost totally destroyed by the quake and subsequent landslides. The 710-km western route via Ya’an, which provided access for rescue and medical teams, suffered less damage.
“The detour is eight times longer than the eastern route,” Li said.
Working alongside the Minjiang River, the team has been constantly hampered by heavy rains and aftershocks, which on May 14 – the first day they got there – “happened almost once a minute”, he said.
More than 3,000 workers from SRBG have led the way in rebuilding the province’s shattered road network after the quake. Thanks to their hard work, the road between Dujiangyan and Wenchuan was clearly and finally reopened in early September.
Since then, Li’s team started the maintenance work.
Currently, they are on their last task in the whole mission: rebuilding an 84-m-long bridge linking a protruded rock and a village in which the team is now based. Without a bridge, vehicles will have to detour by encircling the steep rock in a valley of the Minjiang River.
“We hoped to finish the bridge before the Chinese New Year, but we know it is impossible now,” Li said, blaming the delays on the forbidding terrain.
Their construction site is located in the village of Suopo, about 30 km to the south of Wenchuan County.
“Suopo” means “sliding slope” in the Sichuan dialect, and Li’s team has been at constant risk from falling rocks, aftershocks and landslides, since they got there in mid-September.
Each night before they go to bed, the workers park large machinery just out of their temporary shelter to block the falling rocks.
“Local people call the mountain Guizhaoshou (鬼招手devil’s greeting),” Li said.
“Many times when we woke up, we found machinery that had been broken by fallen rocks.”
There is a risk even when it is deep in winter – not a rainy season, he said, as winds set off rock falls.
But work still goes on, Li added. Following his fingers, workers were busy at the foot of the “devil’s greeting”.
In order to finish the bridge, the whole team works for 24 hours a day and on two shifts.
“Now we hope a new bridge will be here after the Chinese New Year, allowing vehicles passing by to get further away from the devil’s greetings,” Li said.

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Tags:317 national highway, aftershock, Dujiangyan, Guizhaoshou, landslide, Minjiang River, Sichuan Road and Bridge Group, SRBG, Suopo, Wenchuan, Zhitai
Posted in Facilities reconstruction, Infrastructure, Official news source, Transport | No Comments »

20090115: 5.0 aftershock

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Thursday 15th January 2009, 2.23am aftershock. Magnitude 5.0 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

More details on the USGS site here.

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Tags:aftershock, earthquake, January 2009
Posted in Seismic activity | No Comments »

Xinhua: Mixed agony and hope for China quake survivors

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Special report by Xinhua writers Wu Chen, Ji Shaoting:

YA’AN, Sichuan, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) – Everyone in the rehabilitation center for May 12 quake survivors in the West China Hospital wants to recover as much as possible through different therapies. Tian Fugang has a bigger dream.

The ceiling of his factory collapsed in the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, which caused nearly 70,000 deaths, and hit his lumbar vertebra. When he woke up from the coma because of the excessive pain, he could no longer feel his legs.

Now, every day, the 22-year-old former technician, who was paralyzed in the devastating quake in southwest Sichuan Province walks with special facility supporting his body for three to four hours, trains on parallel bars for half an hour and has acupuncture therapy for one hour. He has done so for nearly two months.

In the rest of the time, the thing he likes to do most is learning to use his wheelchair.

At first, he learnt different skills from the therapists, including supporting with the back wheels, getting back to the chair after falling down, moving between his wheelchair and bed, and a more difficult one, climbing stairs.

“He always managed to learn them very quickly,” said Ding Mingfu, deputy director of the rehabilitation center.

Now, Tian invented his own skill.

“I can climb a slope, which is as narrow as my wheelchair, and turn around the wheelchair on the top of it,” he said proudly, with a smile on his baby face.

The therapists found he had a talent in sports and suggested he consider to be an athlete. Tian thought it a good idea. That’s why he did a lot of training to improve his physical ability.

Next door, some ten survivors gathered to watch a soap opera. Liu Fang, 13, joined them after finishing her Chinese class upstairs. She laughed together with her wardmates when the heroine of the South Korean comedy was embarrassed by her lover. Her fair cheeks turned pink.

“She never spoke to anybody when she first came to the center two months ago, nor did she smile,” Ding Mingfu said.

The girl could only sit in a wheelchair with a belt holding her in after being paralyzed in one of the aftershocks.
“I’m much better now. I could only sit in the wheelchair for a little while two months ago, but now I can sit for two hours,” Liu said.

The rehabilitation center accepted more than 160 people who had been disabled by the quake, and some 100 people have recovered and left the center.

“Our definition for recovery is the patient’s body function has reached the highest level it can do,” Ding said.
It provided speech, occupational, acupuncture, psychological therapies and physiotherapy, as well as training for using artificial limbs.

“Rehabilitation is important for them to obtain a better life quality over the rest of their life,” Ding said, adding that without proper rehabilitation, the disabled would have a lesser ability to take care of themselves, which would be a greater burden for their families.

Local health authorities have planned a three-level rehabilitation system, composed of three provincial rehabilitation centers, six city centers and community centers.

However, as modern rehabilitation has only developed in China for less than 30 years, in comparison with the 80-year-history of the subject, China lacks professional staff, rehabilitation centers and facilities.

More than 350,000 people in Sichuan alone were injured in the quake, and among them, some 100,000 were hospitalized. Many of them are in need of rehabilitation after leaving hospitals.

However, there are not enough professional doctors, therapists and nurses for rehabilitation in the city-level centers and even no rehabilitation center in the communities, not to mention those who live in the remote mountainous areas. This time, many quake-battered regions were rural areas.

Sichuan has been providing rehabilitation therapies to nearly 6,000 people and the search for injured people who need it in remote areas is still under way, according to local health authorities.

“What we can do now is to try our best to treat every single patient we have here in the center,” Ding said, adding that they not only trained the patients with basic living skills, but also think about ways for them to live on.

Although Liu Fang still could not figure out her future, the doctors have found a job of decorator in east China’s Jiangsu Province for her father.

“At least the family can have a stable income in the future to support her,” Ding said.

The therapists also sent Tian Fugang’s information to local disabled persons’ federation, recommending him to get professional sports training.

“I’m still waiting for the reply,” he said, adding that if there wasn’t a promising future for him, he would break up with his girlfriend, whom he had spent nearly four years with.

Tian, who loved playing football before the disaster, said he would play wheelchair basketball or wheelchair tennis if he was chosen.

“I dreamt to compete at the Paralympics one day,” he said.

(Xinhua reporter Ye Jianping in Chengdu contributes to the story)

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Tags:aftershock, community centre, death, doctor, factory, health authority, Jiangsu, nurse, Paralympics, paralysis, rehabilitation, sport, sports training, therapy, wheelchair
Posted in Health care, Physiotherapy / Rehabilitation | No Comments »

SRSA donation of tents to Guangyuan

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

Report by Rainy, volunteering for SQR (interpreting/coordinating).

Swedish Rescue Service Agency (SRSA) donated 1093 military tents to Guangyuan, Sichuan. This is the second batch of tents that they donated where the first was an alliance-to-alliance while this one is a government-to-government one.

The donation consists of 716 accommodation tents, 63 storage tents, 203 command tents and 111 medical tents. The donation arrived in Guangyuan Lizhou District, and was unloaded into a disused factory warehouse on 14th of June by factory workers. Three staff from SRSE were in Guangyuan from the 15th to 19th of June with two Chinese translators.

The team taught eight volunteers how to set up the four different kinds of tents. The volunteers are either going to be directing tent construction directly or teaching more volunteers for distribution in further away counties or areas — for example, villages around the severely damaged county Qingchuan and certain mountain villages along the damaged express way from Guangyuan to Qingchuan along the biggest branch of Jialing river.

The distribution plan is going to be decided by Guangyuan city council, and executed by Guangyuan Lizhou District Civil Affairs Bureau along with the city Civil Affairs Bureau. The SRSA team also provided digital files of detailed manual for all four kinds of tents in Chinese and handed over more than seven hundred ready-printed manuals for the accommodation tents from Sweden, with photos and English instructions as reference.

All tents were organised by coloured spray paint in Sweden and sorted into piles by the team in Guangyuan with the help of their factory workers. The tents are donated with intention of providing temporary shelter for families, schools and medical purpose. All tents came with a heater which can also be used for cooking. The accommodation tents also came with clothes-drying components above the stove.

Deputy Chief of the district bureau Mr Fei said that the tents will be really good for accommodation in remote villages where have people lost their houses but won’t move away from the place, and for village schools which both do not have the flat ground for prefabricated houses to stand on, and do not have accessibility for prefab houses to be transported in recent future. Mr Fei also said the tents will be really good for winter sheltering for areas that need to stay in tents for a longer time.

Tent distribution will be followed up with the provincial Civil Affairs Bureau and Mr Xie. The condition of the buildings within the Guangyuan City is not too bad. Mainly due to fear of aftershocks, quite a lot of people are living in self-constructed tents on the main streets, some in disaster relief or donated tents.

In the older part of the town an area of about three blocks of houses was quite seriously damaged. The buildings had major cracks were clearly seriously distorted/crooked but have not collapsed. The city did not suffer large numbers of deaths or injuries but large numbers of buildings were identified by experts as in danger. An owner of a seriously damaged house expressed her worry of losing the house, which is everything they own. Most people are able to get most of their belongings out of their houses. Shops are open, although one consequence of the earthquake has narrowed the range of products on sale. No internet cafes are open at this stage but internet cards are working.

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Tags:aftershock, Civil Affairs Bureau, death, Guangyuan, shelter, SRSA, tent
Posted in Media | No Comments »

Interview with Lee M.

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

On Sunday 8th June ’08 SQR chatted to Lee, who has been volunteering for SQR and in charge of many of the trips out into the earthquake zone, organising and sourcing materials, arranging transport, liaising with local communities and buying beer for the volunteers. SQR strolled into the Bookworm just as Lee and other volunteers had returned from …

Lee: We went to Baiguo Village near Hanwang. Just before you go into Hanwang, you turn left and you’re pretty much there. It’s looking better there than before. Its buildings are rubble of course. We went with iboughtashelter.com, who have their own design of temporary tents.
SQR: How did they get in touch with Sichuan Quake Relief?
Lee: They contacted us after reading about us on the web. Baiguo is in an area north west of Mianzhu and Hanwang that we have delivered aid to previously, and each time we have spoken to the people who live there, which is a major part of the reason to go on trips out there, to build up meaningful links with local communities. They asked for our advice and this is one of the areas we suggested.
SQR: How did you choose that area?
Lee: There is a real need for these tents almost everywhere. The tent is a really decent construction. Getting lots of them put up quickly and properly is just about practice. We took some trucks, a jeep, all in all 20 people, including Mike, Lucy, Lydia, Angel, me, Sam and Luke and others. We use one-tonne trucks. They are small, easy to get through, and we have a good relationship with the drivers.
SQR: You’ve been going out there for three weeks now. Do you now have a fairly standard procedure for approaching the various sites and setting down deliveries?
Lee: It has changed over the few weeks we’ve been going. There are police checkpoints in many places, at every major turning and every at major entry and exit point into an area. The officers who dealt with us today were from Gansu, and so are all outsiders. They stop foreigners to check what we are up to. When I chat to them and show them my passport, and a letter showing that we are helping people in the area. If you greet them with a decent attitude, they are fine. We let them know we are heading up to the village(s).
SQR: What do you tell people when they ask you what it’s like?
Lee: The area is a lot better than it used to be. Three weeks ago this area had the smell of death, an air of desperation, and everyone wanted food and shelter. That kept going for a couple of weeks. Now that the frequency of the major shocks has lessened, people are actually looking past that and facing up to reality, which is a terrible thing as well, but it makes them get on with life. Their loved ones have gone, dead, their children are dead, their houses have gone, and their livelihood has gone as well.
SQR: What were those tents for today?
Lee: Accommodation. The farmers there have food and water, but really need shelter. They are working on their farms, getting on with life. Almost immediately after the earthquake, people started to work on their land again. We also took up a load of toys and games at the beginning of June. The kids absolutely adored that. Water and food is getting through. The government is giving each person rice and other basic foodstuffs and water.
SQR: In the first three weeks after the quake, Sichuan Quake Relief concentrated on delivering emergency relief, water, and different types of food to give a small amount of dietary variety for some. What are the priorities now?
Lee: Now we’re looking long term and in particular at providing shelters at this period of time, so it’s a good thing the guys from iboughtashelter.com are here. You can get twelve people in one of the tents. Using tarps is always going to mean that heat is a problem. Any tent made of that material is like a small greenhouse, but they are working on the ventilation issue, and it will be sorted.
SQR: What was the reaction of the villagers to the new tents?
Lee: They loved the tents, they all helped. The tents are great and the response has been absolutely marvellous. They have a thousand people to accommodate there, and so we’ll visit again.
SQR: Any particular moments you remember from today’s trip?
Lee: Permits are very important and the police spoke to us four times, and were very positive, pleasant and professional and even mentioned a village in Gansu that we might visit to help. After putting up the tents, as we were leaving, they all waved to us, and the police came and saluted us. The police specifically drove up to us to thank us and salute us and were almost teary-eyed. It was pretty moving. They were senior officers and they were saluting us.
SQR: What are the plans for the near future?
Lee: Three hundred or more tents will be sent from Shanghai. They are specifically designed for this emergency. SQR’s role is to recommend places to take them, and get in touch with the village leaders. There are thousands of people to accommodate, so there’s plenty to do.
SQR: Any signs of normal life returning?
Lee: There are some. Kids are smiling. People’s income there is from farming, so people are working and there is work to do. People are smiling, sitting around, happily joking and laughing. Obviously they are friendly because we are helping them. Obviously the atmosphere is still so sad, but people are facing reality.