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more pictures from Mianzhu area
This was our last stop of the day - described a few posts earlier. We were directed to this village by the local leader - the man in the green jacket in the picture below. He begged us to follow him up the hill a few kilometers to this farming village. No one had been up there yet, and the only provisions they had were what he could deliver up from the distribution center on his motorcycle. These people were so gracious and so grateful - once we got the things to them, they wanted to do all the work of unloading and stacking. I was “yelled” at more than once - “No, No! You brought this so far, let me, let me.”
This picture was taken on our way back through the town of Mianzhu. If you look closely, there is a woman washing her clothes in a small “canal” running past what presumably was her home. Even more incongruous… there were two small ducklings nestled in the midst of the rubble behind her.
pictures
This is just one of the maps found on the USGS website. It still blows my mind that Chengdu suffered such little damage despite being so close to the epicenter. The area that we visited on Saturday was near Mianzhu - not on this map - but just a little southwest of Mianyang.
Makeshift shelters in our own complex. People are still living outside in tents, simply because they are afraid to go into their homes.
It was hard for me to reconcile this today… seeing people in our school complex with a tent for every family member, their car parked nearby and their brand new, intact apartment behind them. We had people on the roads around Mianzhu begging for tents or tarps - anything for shelter. These people were setting up shelter in the midst of the rubble, with the clothes on their backs and whatever they were able to pull out from the piles of wood and bricks. Perhaps a month from now, when the rich residents of ZhongHai and XiQuHuaYuan are tired of living outside, they can send their tents to those in the countryside who have lost everything. Having said that, the Chinese citizens have contributed over 3.5 billion yuan (500 million dollars) to the rescue effort - and that’s just the official count through the Red Cross donation centers!
Mianzhu area
This morning, some foreign and national staff loaded vehicles with water, food and other necessities and headed north to Mianzhu. Mianzhu is the hometown of a few of our national staff, and suffered quite a bit of damage, especially in the outlying areas.
As we drove, we saw very little damage until we arrived in Mianzhu. Then we began to see collapsed roofs, walls and damaged power lines. The countryside was almost surreal, with people living in makeshift tents in the middle of their leveled homes. More than once, we had people flag us down from the side of the road and ask for whatever we could give them. Most were looking for tarps or face masks, but seemed to have plenty of water.
We only saw one major rock slide, and otherwise, the farms were intact, and people were moving along as usual, harvesting rapeseed and wheat. In fact, the government sent a text message asking people not to burn their fields in order to allow rescue pilots better visibility!
There were two events that especially struck me today:
We stopped along the road where a small group of people were gathered. One man among them had very little control over one arm and seemed to have some mental issues as well. When he was handed a cup of instant noodles, his face lit up like I’ve never seen before. The group was told that we would be pr*ying for them, and they responded excitedly, saying they were part of the Family!!
Secondly, we stopped at a distribution center and were directed to a village a few kilometers away that had received very little attention. We loaded things from the large buses to the smaller vehicles and made our way up the hill. When we arrived, people cheered, and told us that this was the first delivery made to their village. They helped unload the vans, and rather than run off with the things, they stacked it neatly for later distribution and talked and talked with us. One lady was sobbing - overwhelmed by the fact that no harm had come to her family and now this sign that their lives could be rebuilt.
Pictures to come later, but I’m off to bed…
EastSouthWestNorth: The Sichuan Earthquake
The pictures here are descriptive and sad. We have been on these roads before. Our middle school students returned from a trip to an area near the epicenter less than 36 hours before the quake.
EastSouthWestNorth: The Sichuan Earthquake
The Earthquake’s Effects
I saw this graphic today, which effectively what I said in the last post about the effects of the main earthquake. Here’s where it came from.
We went back to school today; some 20% of our students, especially our younger kids, stayed home with family. Some older students were with parents, helping the recovery process.
Today was the first day we heard stories from our national staff. Their words were heart-breaking. Staff with families living in Mianyang, Mianzhu, Beichuan and other areas are still waiting to hear from some of their family, while others have already received the devestating news. We heard of military paratroopers jumping into affected areas because there was no other way in. They had no way to tell where they were jumping, and several were hurt in the process.
Though the aftershocks are decreasing in quantity and intensity, we in Chengdu still aren’t in the clear yet. Damaged dams in Dujiangyan could cause further damage through massive flooding if they break; it was recently discovered that the dams were damaged in the main quake.
The Chinese people could use your help. Our school has been helping Heart to Heart; the Chinese Red Cross is a major force in the recovery effort; Morning Tears is specifically helping children, especially those orphaned by this disaster. All could use help. We want to help with basic needs (water, food, shelter) now, but are also concerned with rebuilding infrastructure in the future.
More to come, I’m sure…
Earthquake Update
We’re coming on 48 hours after the earthquake, and many more things are becoming clear.
First, we were very fortunate. The epicenter of the quake was 41.5 miles away from us; considering a magnitude of 7.9, it is surprising that our area survived with so little damage. The two natural reasons for this are the quality of the building construction and the surrounding terrain. Because both our school and apartment were built within the past 5 years or so, the quality of the work is much more sound. In our inspection of the school yesterday, we saw superficial cosmetic flaws with some broken plaster at places, but beyond that, very little was wrong. Chengdu is situated in a flat area but is surrounded by mountains. The earthquake did not radiate in a perfect circle; rather, the brunt force created more of an oval shape on a map as the effects were felt the greatest on the mountain ridge. This screen shot shows the epicenters of both the primary earthquake and other smaller but significant seismic activity on Monday.
So we were fortunate. Many were not. The latest estimate of those who died has surpassed 13,000, with more still missing or trapped in the rubble. Our school is struggling to determine how we best can help out in these situations. Staff members are gathering supplies and working with the red cross and other organizations to get necessities to those who need them.
Some things still aren’t clear. Rumors around town are prevalent: we can’t drink the water, the water will be turned off for a whole week, there will be another aftershock at precisely 5.00pm. We’re skeptical, but the water at all nearby stores has been sold out. As for timing of the aftershocks, well, they’re batting zero so far.
NBC update - apparently we did make the evening news. That was odd to think about.
We’re still feeling aftershocks; last count I heard was over 600. Continue to think of those affected, please.
Earthquake!!!
Sarah and I all for having new experiences here in China; being in my first earthquake was not an experience either of us expected.
The basic facts are that at about 2:30 this afternoon the school began to shake - not too violently, but enough to scare us. The USGS registered the earthquake at a magnitude of 7.8; at school we felt the earthquake for some 4 minutes. We don’t know whose fault it was.
Anyway, we are doing alright. Our decreasing amount of stuff survived; we think had we not been in the process of moving, our belongings could very well have had more damage.
Here’s an interesting twist: an email showed up in my inbox tonight asking for a telephone interview. So if you hear a familiar voice on the NBC nightly news talking about the earthquake in Chengdu, it could be me…
Please be thinking of those who did not fare nearly as well as we did. The death toll, according to latest reports, could be in the thousands. We’re going to be checking tomorrow to see if there’s any way to help.
SCC
Tonight was the night Steven Curtis Chapman was supposed to grace our Chinese city with a concert. Yep, I said supposed to: it didn’t work out. While the other cities were still able to arrange a concert, our city’s western location has created some tension. So although a local university was originally willing to let us use their 1,700 seat auditorium for the concert as a way to support the arts for their students, they decided to cancel with very little time for the concert organizers to reschedule. We weren’t the only casualty: another sporting event at the university sure to draw a large crowd was also canceled. I thought about putting on a concert myself; after all, Steven replaced me for a special music while I was at Cedarville. I could just repay the favor, right? :-) Alas, it was not to be.
We are coming to the end. We had our last company meeting last night; tears were shed. While I write this people are rummaging through our stuff, looking for their own buried treasure in our used stuff. Tonight I had a dinner meeting with old and new student government officers that was also attended by a different advisor to take the reins next year.
We are heading towards a new beginning. This week our school booked our international flight to the States, so we arrive at Binghamton Regional Airport on Thursday, June 12th at 11.25pm. Or later. I received my financial aid letter from Dallas Seminary this morning; it was a help and relief for my fall tuition bill. I met a couple today who run a coffee house with two locations I am aware of: one in Chengdu, and one north of Dallas, TX. These and more are making the transition more real, feasible, and smooth.
In other news, I had chocolate milk with my lunch today. It was good. I highly encourage drinking chocolate milk every once in a while.