Earthquake anniversary ‘too sad’ as reconstruction work continues
Print Edition
THERE was no ceremony to mark the first anniversary of a 6.5-magnitude earthquake that killed 617 people and injured another 3,143 on August 3 last year in Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province.
Instead, it was business as usual for local residents as construction sites in Longtoushan Township, epicenter of the quake, roared with the sound of heavy machinery working to rebuild what was lost.
“We don’t want to hold any ceremonies to remind people of their sadness,” said Li Shanyun, the township’s Party secretary, referring to the disaster that claimed the lives of 556 town residents.
“Speeding up reconstruction is the best commemoration of the dead,” he said.
Xie Weili spent the day sitting outside his tent watching his new home being built.
The 64-year-old man lost his two daughters and four grandsons in the disaster.
“They are gone and I can not bring them back,” said Xie. “It’s of no use being sad every day.”
He’s looking forward to moving into his new 120-square-meter house, which is due for completion by October 1.
The house is costing over 120,000 yuan (US$193,32), of which 50,000 yuan is from the government and the rest donations.
Yunnan is investing 27.46 billion yuan on 3,195 reconstruction projects with residential reconstruction completed by the end of this year and public infrastructure reconstruction by the end of next year.
More than 98 percent of the collapsed houses are being rebuilt, said Zhang Yan, head of the Ludian County government.
A new Longquan Middle School, where the quake rescue headquarters were based, is expected to be completed by August 20 and ready for the new semester on September 1.
The five-story compound is made of steel and is able to resist major earthquakes, said engineer Yang Ping.
The reconstruction of more than half of the 264 schools affected by the quake in Zhaotong City, which administers Ludian County, has begun.
With regular seismic activity, complex topography and frequent rainstorms, the region is prone to the worst that nature can throw at it.
Most of the areas exist in a vicious cycle, where poverty has lowered capacity to endure and prevent natural disasters and the destruction brought by disasters further worsens the economic situation.
Farmers in Ludian survive on less than US$1 a day.
Before the earthquake, they were optimistic about plans to plant peppers, pecans and apples in the barely arable mountain region as trials were a success. The earthquake destroyed the crops.
Tao Yonghong, a resident of Lijiashan Village, lost more than 40,000 chickens in the earthquake when his farm was flooded.
Tao returned to his house after the flood receded and opened a shop to support his family. He is expected to move to a new house by the end of this year.
“My first 40 years have been buried in water and I have to create a new life for the rest of my life by myself,” he said.
“When the reconstruction is completed, the residents will get out of poverty,” said Zhang Jihua, mayor of Zhaotong City.
A pepper trading market has been built at a resettlement at Guangming Village and another resettlement at Shaba Village will be developed into a tourist attraction with rural home inns, according to Li Shanyun.
Tang Zhengyun, who lost eight family members, said: “If we survivors cannot rebuild a good homeland, how can we honor the deceased?”
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