Posts Tagged ‘Mianyang’
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
Mianyang, Sichuan Province dedicated agency to protect the old county town of Beichuan
China news agency, Mian Yang, June 11 (Reporter Xiao Qing)
Reporters from Mian Yang CPC Municipal Committee were informed that in order to speed up the treatment of the barrier lake in the Tangjiahe Mountain and the protection of the old county, Mian Yang City will set up an agency to co-ordinate the work of specialized agencies. At present, these two tasks are beginning.
The protection of Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County of the Old County and Barrier Lake in the Tangjiahe Mountain have aroused widespread concern and development. The post-disaster reconstruction plan is about the protection of barrier lake in the Tangjiahe Mountain in Beichuan county includes the construction of the museum, heritage and rescue, protection, water conservancy facilities reconstruction (focused on barrier lake management), there are two investment plans totalling nearly 1.2 billion Yuan.
According to a report, because management of the barrier lake in the Tangjiahe mountain and Beichuan old county’s protection regionally focus and covers a wide range, Mian Yang City plans that CHEN YUAN CHUN, who is the Municipal Standing Committee and the CPC secretary of Beichuan county, should be responsible for a specialized agency which will integrate land, water supply, environmental protection, traffic and other departments.
Tags:Mianyang
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Official news source | No Comments »
Thursday, June 4th, 2009
Australian group re-building of the three business schools in the Sichuan earthquake damage
A school that was badly damaged in the 2008 WenChuan earthquake re-opened today (4th June 2009) in MianYang in SiChuan Province. The reconstruction project is supported by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the Blue Scope Steel Group and the Australian Allens Arthur Robinson attorney affairs office.
ANZ Bank said that the three Australian companies are cooperating with the government of Mianyang city Sichuan Province, to reconstruct the teaching building of the YangJia school in the city which contains six new classrooms for 300 students.
The new teaching building was named an “ANZ Bank Building”. Designed for resisting earthquakes of up to 8 on the Richter scale, the building ulilizes high-quality, recyclable building materials, including steel made in Australia.
The school buildings are financed by the Australia-New Zealand Bank Group. BlueScope Steel Group is responsible for the provision of building materials and construction supervision while Allens Arthur Robinson attorney affairs office provides free legal services. The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group will also fund the school’s desks and chairs, and donate stationery to students.
The Chief Executive Officer of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, ZhaoMing Gao, said that ANZ Bank and China are involved in a long-term cooperative relationship. The Yang Middle School reconstruction project provides the opportunity to ANZ Bank “to make some permanent changes in” severely dameaged region in the earthquake.
Tags:Allens Arthur Robinson, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Blue Scope, Mianyang, Wenchuan
Posted in Disaster / risk management, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Investment, Official news source | No Comments »
Saturday, April 25th, 2009
Beichuan tourism plan approved
Sichuan province’s Beichuan county, which was devastated by last May’s earthquake, aims to become an internationally renowned travel destination for its Qiang ethnic minority culture, quake ruins and legacy as Xia Dynasty founder Dayu’s birthplace, the county’s tourism development master plan said.
The plan yesterday passed appraisal by more than 40 experts nationwide and officials from Sichuan.
It called for constructing tourism infrastructure from 2009 to 2011.
Tourism would develop dramatically from 2012 to 2015 until Beichuan became a top-class domestic tourist destination, while it would become an internationally leading site for earthquake ruins from 2016 to 2020, the plan said.
The plan also said Beichuan must develop three or four attractions appealing to overseas visitors. Its project list includes an earthquake museum, an ethnic Qiang street and a plaza showcasing local ethnic minority culture. The plan, which the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences’ tourism research center developed over eight months, will go to the provincial government for approval before post-quake tourism reconstruction begins, said Zhang Jie, an information officer for Mianyang, which administrates Beichuan.
Beichuan was among the counties most devastated by the May 12 earthquake. Of the nearly 70,000 people who died, more than 10,000 were in the county.
Beichuan is the country’s only Qiang autonomous county. It was home to about 90,000 Qiang people prior to the quake, but about 10 percent of them died in the disaster, the county’s publicity department deputy chief Wang Jian said.
The ethnic group is known for living in stone towers resembling fortresses and for worshiping the goat – an animal revered as the god of food and clothing.
Beichuan is best known as the birthplace of Dayu, the legendary founder of the Xia Dynasty (21st century-16th century BC).
Tags:Beichuan, Beichuan tourism, Dayu, Mianyang, overseas visitors, Qiang, ruins, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, tourism research centre, tourist destination, Xia Dynasty
Posted in Arts, Ethnic minorities, Facilities reconstruction, Government, Local government, Official news source, Tourism | No Comments »
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Rebuilding of school destroyed in Sichuan quake to start on 1st anniversary
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-01 14:56:36
Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
MIANYANG, Sichuan, April 1 (Xinhua) — The reconstruction of Beichuan Middle School, one of the schools that sustained the most damage in last year’s earthquake in China’s southwestern Sichuan Province, will start May 12, the first anniversary of the earthquake, officials said Wednesday.
The new school, mostly funded by donations from Chinese all over the world, will be built in Beichuan’s new county seat, said Liu Qi, an official with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), which was in charge of aiding the rebuilding.
Officials will choose a design from submissions by leading universities including Tsinghua and Tongji as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Hong Kong University, he said.
More than 1,300 of the school’s 2,900 students and teachers were killed or left missing in the rubble of the collapsed buildings in the Wenchuan 8.0-magnitude earthquake. Surviving students have attended classes in temporary pre-fab structures since shortly after the disaster.
Overseas Chinese have donated nearly 200 million yuan (29 million U.S. dollars) since August when the donation campaign began, Liu said.
The new school will cover about 13 hectares and is expected to enroll more than 5,000 students.
An ACFROC official arrived in Sichuan Tuesday and will work with the local government on construction, he said.
The reconstruction of Beichuan County, one of the worst-hit areas in the quake, began in February. The new seat is between Yong’an Township and Anchang Township, about 23 km from the former county seat.
Tags:All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), Anchang, Beichuan Middle School, Hong Kong University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mianyang, pre-fab, rubble, school, Tsinghua University and Tongji University, Wenchuan, Yong'an
Posted in Civil society, Construction and infrastructure, Donation, Education, Facilities reconstruction, Investment, Official news source | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009
Quake-hit Chinese hope for better life
2009-02-27 21:47:18
Special Report: Reconstruction After Earthquake
CHENGDU, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) — Liu Renqin in his sixties has reopened his decade-old gravy store, with the savory smell often attracting queues of buyers from his temporary-house community.
In his view, the store is less of business purpose, but more a link to the calm and happy life before last May’s devastating earthquake that left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.
The original store, which Liu had run for more than ten years in Beichuan, one of the hardest-hit counties, was toppled, and half of his families, including a son, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter, died in the catastrophe.
Though turning more silent, Liu has gradually been adapted to the life in the new community, the largest prefab neighborhood in Mianyang City, Sichuan Province. The neighborhood is home to more than 10,000 fellow residents from Beichuan.
“We have to live on,” says Liu. He even plans a tour to Beijing within a couple of years if the gravy store can help him save enough money, since he has dreamed of visiting the national capital.
Wen Huarong, 40, who lost both her son and mother in the quake, now works as a volunteer in the community and devotes most of her energy taking care of the preschool children in the neighbourhood.
“It touches me with a sense of family,” Wen says. “People who are still alive need some sort of dedication to life and work to make them more courageous.”
But some are still struggling for the future.
Liu Daihe, 43, finds it difficult to find a stable job after the phosphorous mine at Qingping Town of Mianzhu, another hard-damaged city, was gulped by the quake. He had worked for the mine for years and was the breadwinner of his family.
He looked for jobs elsewhere, but was turned down for his age. “I’m not competitive on the market. In addition, I don’t have technical skills. I can only do hard labor in the pit.”
Liu had to travel hundreds of miles to Yibin in southern Sichuan to work at a private mine, where he was paid 80 yuan (11.8 U.S. dollars) a day working from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Before the Spring Festival, Liu came back and placed himself at a small mine in the adjacent city of Shifang, which was set up by one of his fellow villagers. The pay is 50 yuan on a daily basis.
Facing the tough situation, local governments have listed employment as the top priority, hosting a series of job fairs and offering training programs to help job seekers improve their technical skills.
By the end of last year, more than 1.2 million laborers in quake-hit areas got re-employed. In Mianzhu alone, the local labor bureau reached out to offer more than 18,000 public-welfare posts with modest earnings, such as guarding warehouses or sweeping streets.
Jiangsu, which is responsible for the direct assistance to Mianzhu, offered 50,000 jobs at five large-scale job fairs.
If jobs are regarded as the top priority, the second comes housing. Ma Qianguo, chief of the Communist Party committee of Luobozhai village in Beichuan, is so busy with house rebuilding that he has slept for only three to four hours a day for months.
He hopes that all the villagers can move into new houses before May 12. That will be the best way to commemorate the dead at the quake’s first anniversary, he says.
“The foundations of the new houses are as solid as bridge piers,” Ma says. “They can to stand against even a magnitude-10 quake.”
“While building our new village, we are also establishing our new life goals,” he says.
In Longxi village, Wenchuan County, the quake epicenter, 37-year-old Chen Shixue keeps his temporary house warm through the winter with an electric heater.
Chen said the government has offered construction materials and each family 2,000 yuan (290 U.S. dollars) to help build the wind and rain-proof houses made of plastic cloth and wood boards.
Among the 96 families in the village, 90 lost their homes in the quake. They built temporary houses to live through the winter as their new permanent houses have not been completed.
As it’s getting warmer, they have packed away the quilts and the electric carpet given by the local government, says Chen.
By the end of January, 560,000 rural households in Sichuan, almost half of the total number, had completed building their new permanent houses.
“Spring is coming. There are always new hopes,” Chen says
Tags:Beichuan, Longxi, Luobozhai, Mianyang, Mianzhu, mine, Qingping, Shifang
Posted in Construction and infrastructure, Governance and social policy, Home rebuilding, Living conditions, Local government, Official news source | No Comments »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
联丰村“太平”文化中心动工 川保险业关注重建
2009-02-24 来源： 四川新闻网
On 20th Feb, Taiping Community Centre in Lianfeng Village, Anxian, Mianyang City, which received 1.23 million RMB from Taiping Life Insurance Co., started constructing.
According to Du Shaoyou, the village head, the original community Center that had served 1143 ‘Left-behinds’ (children, women, and elderly whose relatives are away working, leaving them behind in their home village/town) from Lianfeng and other five neighbouring villages was destroyed in the quake.
The centre that is expected to be completed in June this year will be mainly used for Children and Elderly people and also a training centre for female villagers.
2月20日，在地震中遭受重创的绵阳安县联丰村太平文化活动中心正式破土动工，该中心由太平人寿保险有限公司捐款123万元与联丰村共同兴建。中心建成后将成为联丰村及附近5个丘区村留守儿童学习知识、留守妇女学习技术、空巢老人颐养天年的场所。
据联丰村村支书杜少友介绍，联丰村及附近的5个丘区村共有留守儿童643人、留守妇女400多人、空巢老人100余人。“5•12”地震使安县联丰村“留守儿童关爱中心”400多平米的公共设施和辅助设施毁于一旦。
预计该中心将于2009年6月前落成。
Tags:'left-behinds', An'xian, Du Shaoyou, Lianfeng, Mianyang, Taiping Community Centre, Taiping Life Insurance Co.
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Construction and infrastructure, Facilities reconstruction, Local government, Official news source, Social welfare | No Comments »
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。
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 »
Friday, February 27th, 2009
Hope Project to invest 400mln Yuan in Sichuan quake zones
Xinhua 2009-01-07 18:43:25
More than 410 million Yuan (about 60 million U.S. dollars) will be invested by the Hope Project in quake zones in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, according to the China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF).
Some 254 primary schools in 33 counties will be built with the money, said Tu Meng, deputy general secretary of CYDF. A construction timeline had not been decided yet, Tu said.
The foundation will also provide computer rooms, libraries, movies, sports grounds, teacher training and scholarships.
The money will be used in eight quake affected areas in Sichuan, including Chengdu, Mianyang, Deyang and Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities.
Donations helped raise the 410 million Yuan, said Tu.
Hope Project, started in 1989, is a Chinese public service project organized by CYDF and the Communist Youth League (CYL). Its goal is to help children in poverty-stricken areas to go to school.
Tags:Aba Autonomous Prefecture of Tibetan and Qiang nationalities, Chengdu, China Youth Development Foundation, Communist Youth League, CYDF, CYL, DeYang, Hope Project, Mianyang, primary school, Tu Meng
Posted in Childcare, Civil society, Education, Ethnic minorities, Facilities reconstruction, Governance and social policy, Investment, National government, Official news source | No Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
CHENGDU, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Sichuan Province will seek investment worth 9.4 billion yuan (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) to save the threatened culture of the Qiang people, local authorities said.
A total of 7.9 billion yuan would be used to assist the Qiang culture protection and tourism in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture and Mianyang City where most of the Qiang people lived.
Part of the 9.4 billion yuan fund will be used to build an education centre to preserve documents and where Qiang cultural masters would have a larger stage to pass on traditions and festivals of their people. Sichuan will restore and build the cultural facilities, villages, ancient castles and gardens featuring the Qiang ethnic culture. The fund would also go to the exploration and development of the skills of tailoring, the arts and cooking, according to the handbook.
The Qiang people, with a history of at least 3,000 years, were famous for their unique language, customs, arts and religious beliefs. They were also known for the stone castles they live in, often three or four stories tall. It has a population of 300,000 people, 80 percent of whom are in quake-hit areas of Maoxian, Wenchuan, and Beichuan counties. The culture of the Qiang nationality suffered a near fatal blow from the earthquake on May 12. All the houses in Luobo village, the most ancient Qiang village of Wenchuan County, were toppled. The same tragedy also befell hundreds of typical Qiang houses, buildings and bridges in Beichuan, Maoxian, Lixian counties. More than 30,000 Qiang people died in the quake, 40 of whom were cultural masters and experts.
Tags:Arts, Beichuan, cooking, culture, documents, education, ethnic, handbook, language, Lixian, Luobo, Maoxian, Mianyang, minority, Qiang, skills, tailor, tourism, Wenchuan
Posted in Arts, Ethnic minorities, Local government, National government | No Comments »
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Update sent by Lucy to SQR volunteers at end of July 2008. The second part of the post features an email sent 14th July to SQR volunteers.
With the help of three volunteers we were able to almost finish our NGO Newsletter (right now Bingbing is translating all the English info texts about the different NGOs). We’ll hope to send out the first edition of the newsletter this weekend.
Also we got several huge maps of the quake area as a goodbye present from their NGO, those will be very useful for the next NGO meeting.
The Library Project picked two schools of the schools SQR recommended, for their libraries (one is in Qingchuan and one in Tumenzhen).
SQR was invited to take part in the reconstruction mission of the British Chamber of Commerce and attend meetings with Sichuan, Chengdu, Mianzhu, Qingchuan, Wenchuan, Dujiangyan and Mianyang government (mayors and the like). It was definitely interesting information about future government plans (also to pass onto other NGOs) and a lot of business-card swapping. Also I met two managers who might be interested in donating some money to SQR (nothing sure yet).
Today I met with a Dutch lady who has collected over 30,000 RMB and wants help to spend it in the earthquake area, so I’m working on a plan how to split up that kind of money and use it for the tent schools we work with. The only condition she had was that she could tag along when we deliver the supplies and take pictures.
I also met with Maki from Sim’s Guesthouse, who is working on a fabulous map of the affected area. She’s going to put the SQR logo (and some other NGOs logos) on the back of the map and also is getting some help from us in proofreading some info text on the affected area for the back of the map.
Last Friday Hong, Beate and Lynda (latter is the author of the “Good Grief” booklet, of which we brought around 1000 to different tent schools) came to Chengdu. SQR had arranged a trip to two tent schools in Jiulong for them. Bingbing took them to the schools in Jiulong, since I was still busy with the reconstruction mission, and Friday I arranged for them to tag along with Rainbow project to Luoshui. Also Mark interviewed Lynda for the SQR blog. As I chatted with Lynda and her friends later we had the idea of possibly doing a fundraising event in the beginning of September, if possible in the Bookworm. The main idea was to let Lynda read her book, get some other people to do a slideshow about the affected area (I could do that or maybe we could get a professional photographer), maybe one of our volunteer teachers to talk about his experience, do some kind of raffles or charity auction, sell lots of our postcards and calendars etc. We could also make it into a welcome back to Chengdu thing (since quite a lot of expats will be coming home or newly arriving)… It’s still a work in progress. Any suggestions and great ideas please mail to me.
Saturday I hope to go to Qingchuan to bring up two foreign volunteers and supplies to a new school and a kindergarten.
Ashley Murray got me in touch with a school in the states who would possibly like to fundraise money for us and since they’d like to get their students involved I suggested they could do some drawings and cards for the kids in the affected area, which the next foreign volunteer teachers could deliver. I’m still waiting to hear back from them.
Next Thursday we’ll have another NGO meeting with the topics healthcare/psychological help/ hygiene. We need one or two volunteers to take minutes and also translators (the translators I can find easily but somebody to take useful minutes might be harder to find) – anybody interested?
Email to SQR volunteers 14th July 2008
We gave Leo 10,000 RMB to buy basic supplies for villages around Yingxiu. He was supposed to go there tomorrow but had to delay his trip due to heavy rainfall, as soon as he goes he’ll give us the receipts for the supplies he bought with our money and will also give me some pictures from his trip.
On Friday last week I went to Tumenzhen with Wenbo, Lydia and two filming guys from Shenzhen (George and Yimin). We delivered a whiteboard, toys and teaching material for several schools and then dropped off Lydia and Wenbo at two schools to stay there as volunteer teachers. Unfortunately Lydia twisted her ankle and so had to come back to Chengdu before she actually got to start classes. She is okay and back in Beijing now.
This Thursday I went to Qingchuan to bring the first couple of hundreds of our “back to school kits” (backpack filled with “good grief booklet”, pencil case, pen, pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, two notebooks, candy and a small toy) and two foreign teachers (James and George) and one Chinese translator to the Huangpin Primary and Middle school. By the way those schoolkits are sponsored by a Belgian University who I’m in touch with, they generously donated for educational projects. The teachers were extremely grateful for our help and gave us a warm welcome (lots of baijiu included). James will stay in Qingchuan for 2 weeks George for 1. There were no roadblocks and the streets were in pretty good condition but one way takes about 5 hours (yes it was a long day).
On Saturday I brought an American doctor, his two kids and a Chinese counsellor and a box of toys up to one of the tent schools we are in touch with (in Tumenzhen- close to Mianzhu) to stay and teach there for at least one week maybe even two. We had to register at one of the local “tent offices” which unexpectedly only took 5 minutes, the whole trip went well. Wonderfully we didn’t have to pay any driver, since I talked to Leo about how expensive our driver to Qingchuan was and so he hooked us up with a very nice volunteer and his super comfy car, who brought us there for free (even insisted on paying the toll fee) and who made me promise to call him any time we need a free lift to the affected area (I already called him on this today- bet he didn’t expect to hear from me so soon).
Yesterday a volunteer teacher, called Saima, from Beichuan called me and I met with her and another teacher the same day. They are in charge of several tent schools in Beichuan and told me that the kids have literally nothing at the moment, they especially asked for books so I let them fill out the form that the library project gave me and I’m going to visit one of the schools on Monday (one day trip with the volunteer driver from Leo). They also asked me for 250 back-to-school kits and possibly some toys (I’ll send another project proposal to the funding committee about that).
I’ve been emailing back and forth with Jenny and Tom from the library project and sent them infos about six schools that might be good locations for a library. They are very eager to get the project started so I hope to send you guys some news in the next week.
Lynda the author of “Good Grief” and Hong, her manager,have sent us almost 2000 copies of “Good Grief”, a booklet for kids that deals with the topic of how to cope with loss (translated into Chinese especially for the earthquake kids). I’ve been delivering those books to all the tent schools I’ve visited in the last week and also put one copy in each back-to-school kit. Lynda and Hong will be coming to Chengdu between July 25th and 27th. I’ve already arranged a trip to Luoshui with the Rainbow Project for them and will probably also take them to one of “our” tentschools in Jiulong or Tumen.
The “back to school kits”, have been a big success so far and we’re going to buy some more for the school in Qingchuan and Beichuan.
Rebecca has been working tirelessly on getting in touch with all the NGOs so our first NGO Newsletter will hopefully be sent around soon. So, that’s pretty much all (not enough space for all info about the many other meetings we have had).
Tags:Add new tag, Back-to-school kit, baijiu, Beichuan, Belgium, British Chamber of Commerce, driver, Dujiangyan, fundraiser, Good Grief, Holland, Huangpin, hygiene, library, Luoshui, Lynda Dyer, mayor, Mianyang, Mianzhu, newsletter, NGO, postcard, Qingchuan, Rainbow Project, reconstruction, school, Shenzhen, T-shirt, teacher, tent, translator, Tumenzhen, volunteer, Wenchuan, Yingxiu
Posted in Donation, Education, NGO news, SQR Activities, SQR Editorial | No Comments »
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
A major part of the work of Sichuan-Quake-Relief is to act as an information hub and a connection point between donors and projects, which will involve reporting on the work of the many groups and projects in the region. Here is a short report from Simon, from one such group, the Chengdu’ers:
Last weekend we travelled with Zhu Hai volunteers up to the Mianyang/Jiangyou and Chenjiaba areas of Sichuan.
We had received aid parcels from the GAC school in Wuhan, Hubei province, and the people in this area of Sichuan had not been covered by the army yet. Again, basic food and some tents had arrived from government sources but mosquito repellents, sanitary towels, skin creams for the terrible weather (the last week has been hot and dusty for a few days, followed by a day or two of heavy rain) were in short supply.
Some of the houses look fine, once inside however it is clear that most of them will be demolished eventually. The government officers have been round and daubed characters on the houses: red for demolition, yellow for repair, blue or nothing for safe. The settlements are quite isolated; rice and vegetables are the area’s main produce. Behind one village the whole front of the escarpment had collapsed.
Most of Sichuan’s mountains are densely covered with trees and foliage, the earthquake has literally sheared some of them in half and anywhere you see brown or grey on the mountainsides are collapses or slides due to the quake. Our base was on the outskirts of Jiangyou City. The campsite was somewhat noisy — lorries carrying flat-pack temporary housing, which is becoming such a feature of the landscape.
We’re just a small group, no official name as such but have networked with Guangzhou and local Sichuanese volunteers. Liang Ya, Tom, Michael, Li Qing Wei, Tang Qing Yun and Xiao Gao make up the Chengdu’ers. This week we’re back to Pengzhou county to take supplies to a village hospital that’s had a small upsurge in patients so I’m just heading off to the medical wholesale place now.
Tags:Chen Jia Ba, food, Guangzhou, hospital, Jiangyou, landslide, Mianyang, Pengzhou, rain, Red for demolition, temporary housing, tent, Zhuhai
Posted in Media | No Comments »
