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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
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Interview with the “I Bought a Shelter” team

Monday, June 9th, 2008

I Bought A Shelter have designed a customized emergency relief shelter that can be used for a range of shelter needs. The shelter is freely available for use by any organization seeking spacious and adaptable shelter for the Sichuan earthquake relief effort. Two of the team are in Chengdu, working with Sichuan Quake Relief to put up prototypes of their tents, and then source materials from local suppliers in preparation for larger orders as funding allows.

Tents situation

The tent is an inexpensive and environmentally responsible local “kit” made out of split bamboo poles and a low-tech durable plastic that can be constructed on-site into spacious temporary shelters to house six to twelve people for up to one year. The shelters have many benefits over conventional tents being cheaper, more spacious and better ventilated.

Very accommodating

Luke Cardew and Sam Keam were in a positive mood, one sporting a rather fetching wickerwork crash/safety helmet, and both showing a combination of tan and tiredness bestowed by putting up tents in mountainous regions, and then sitting in the open back of 3-tonne trucks as they bounce along the Sichuan track and road network.

When the earthquake struck on May 12th, Luke was travelling through France. A few days later, Sam texted him, saying, “China needs tents,” and the two were very soon together in Shanghai getting the prototype sorted. They have been in Chengdu for a week now, establishing contacts, assessing sites and sourcing materials for their project. The team had spent Sunday putting up their two first in situ tents in Baiguo Village, near Hanwang. From speaking to SQR volunteers and members of other NGOs present, the prototypes had been a success. The first tent took a few hours to assemble, and the second had been put up much more quickly.

SQR blog spoke to Luke and Sam at the Chengdu Bookworm on the evening of Monday 9th June 2008.

SQR: What have you been up to today?
I Bought A Shelter: Today we have been sourcing materials, including tarpaulin sheets and bamboo poles. We’ve been trying to get the right suppliers in place so that when we’re able to get a bulk order for a large number of shelters we can act quickly and get them over here. We’re aiming for an order of between 300 and 500 tents at the moment, based on funding we’ve got. There are some issues with purchasing tarpaulin here, as regional supplies of tarpaulin seem to have been snapped up, for obvious reasons. We might have to go back to our Shanghai supplier. We’re still working on the bamboo supplies, but bamboo shouldn’t be a problem.
SQR: You’ve mentioned that locally-available materials are a key part of the design.
IBaS: Bamboo is key as it’s a locally-sourced material, organic, low environmental impact and a fast-growing species.
SQR: What was the reaction to the two tents you put up on Sunday?
IBaS: We had been visiting the sites for the two days beforehand, so the local officials knew we were coming. Yesterday was fascinating. People have given a great response. Local people already know how to work with the materials, but they were very receptive to the design. They could see the value in it. The whole design was based on the way they build greenhouses here in China. There’s a clever difference to it. You build it in exactly the same way, except that as you build these tents, you pass one of the roof-supporting bamboo poles over another so that the roof structure is overlapping, making it much sturdier than the usual way these structures are assembled. As soon as we demonstrated this “overlap” step, there was literally this “whoo” moment (a sort of gasp of “oooh, that’s clever, isn’t it?”/”penny-drop” amazement – Ed.).
SQR: How has cooperation with Sichuan Quake Relief been?
IBaS: The people at Sichuan Quake Relief have been extraordinarily helpful. There’s a brilliant network of people. They’ve helped us so much. In particular they’ve been brilliant for logistics, with finding transport and volunteers, and helping us visit sites to assess where we might be able to work.
SQR: Luke, as an industrial designer, any thoughts on your design, now that you’ve seen the tent assembled in Sichuan?
IBaS: So far we are happy with the design. The tents are big and cheap and strong enough for the temporary short- to medium-term accommodation they are to provide. The ventilation needs to be slightly refined, but we are working on that.
SQR: How long will you be working on this project?
IBaS: If the project here gets too big, it’s an open source design, and the hope is for an NGO to manage the distribution of these tents. For more details about the tent design, visit our website or download a PDF of the shelter specifications sheet.

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Tags:Baiguocun, bamboo, design, Donation, French, Hanwang, iboughtashelter.com, London, NGO, shelter, tarpaulin, volunteer
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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.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact SQR at The Bookworm or email info@sichuan-quake-relief.org.

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Tags:aftershock, Baiguocun, checkpoint, children, community, death, earthquake, food, foreigner, Gansu, Hanwang, iboughtashelter.com, jeep, liaison, permit, shelter, tent, Transport, village, water
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“Foreigners give children fun day,” China Daily

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

From the China Daily:

SHIFANG, Sichuan: Oliver Baudouy knelt on the dusty ground amid the rubble of Bayi Primary School and played the drums. The simple but strangely attractive rhythm started to draw children from the village. They became increasingly mesmerized by the music but kept their distance from the man. Baudouy’s fellow foreigners started dancing and invited their young audience to join them. The visitors’ exaggerated movements and facial expressions made the children laugh.

That was how 40 expatriates yesterday celebrated Children’s Day with hundreds of youngsters in the rural areas of Shifang, about two hours’ drive away from Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan. The foreigners were part of relief efforts for the May 12 quake that devastated the province.

The expats, aged between 18 and 60, come from 30 countries, including the United States, Britain, France, Ireland and Germany. Most of them work in Chengdu. “We wanted to spend the day with children in the mountains rather than in a city to deliver the message that they are not forgotten,” Peter Goff, who organized the day’s activities, said.

The team visited three different places in Luoshui county, a region severely hit by the quake. The treks to the areas were harsh, with county roads virtually destroyed by the quake, but the visitors were not deterred.

“A nice smile on a child’s face was all the reward we needed. It warmed our hearts,” said Baudouy, a Canadian teacher of the English and French languages.

It was the first time for He Jia to see so many foreigners in person. The 11-year-old girl had previously only seen such foreigners on TV . “I think they are very funny, especially when they are dancing,” she said, as her friends and classmates played with the men. The girl could not wait to show people what was inside her pockets. They were stuffed with candy. “The foreigners gave them to me for Children’s Day,” the pupil said, beaming.

“The students have never been so playful in the aftermath of the quake,” said villager Yang Xiaohong, who later joined the dance with the children. Yang said the children stayed at home or in makeshift sheds after the primary school collapsed. Watching TV was the only leisure activity they had. More than 1,700 gifts were distributed to the children, including balls, toy cars, dolls and sports equipment.

The EtonHouse International School in Chengdu donated most of the gifts. “We tried to choose gifts that more than one person could play with, which means more people can have fun,” said the school’s principal, Sarah Moore. Frenchman Max De Villers agreed, saying that children needed activities to keep them busy, as they have a lot of energy that needs to be “let off”. Staying in a crowded tent was not good for them. “Playing is one important step for them to return to normal life,” he added.

Various activities, such as painting, drum lessons and ball games, took place on the site after more children and their parents joined the visitors. The children were also eager to take photos with the foreigners. Gradually, the ruins became a happy playground for the young quake victims yesterday. “Happiness is very important. Even though you have experienced difficult times, life must go on, and you must enjoy your life, ” said Baudouy.