China: The Recovery Begins and Your Help Is Needed

It has been 10 long days since the devastating 8.0 Sichuan earthquake and although there have been several recent rescues of people that have been trapped for 9 days, the mission has moved into the recovery stage.

According to China Daily Online, there are 5 million homeless in the region and 32,666 still missing. There are 25,681 still in hospital.

Many children have been orphaned but all have been adopted.

Insurer to adopt all quake orphans
By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-05-15 14:52
China Life Charity Fund will cover all the basic living expenses of children who have lost their parents in the devastating earthquake centered in Sichuan province, until they reach 18 years old, chairman Yang Chao said last night.

China's largest life insurer said it is in discussions with the local civil affairs department over details of the aid. The company is collecting data on the orphans.

This is a photo of a 3 year-old survivor.  She was found snuggled in her deceased parent's arms. She said when rescued, "My name is Song Xi Yi, my Mom and Dad are sleeping.  I am in baby school, I can sing and draw."

The headline is perhaps a little hyperbolic as it is doubtful that they have been officially adopted by China Life, but the fact  that they will be taken care of until they are 18 years-old even if they are not covered by a China Life policy is comforting.

That someone is gathering info on the orphans will also hopefully protect the kids from unscrupulous baby merchants that are prevalent in this area of China.

The Chinese Government has also claimed that all medical expenses will be paid by the government.

Quake victims not have to pay medical fees
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-15 20:07

BEIJING  -- Quake victims will not have to pay medical expenses, the Chinese government has promised.

"Medical expenses shall not be inflicted on them, and the government has the responsibility to help them get better medical service," Vice Health Minister Gao Qiang said at a press conference on Thursday.

The government will "spare no effort" in dealing with the bodies of the victims and providing medical treatment for the injured, Gao said.

I know that you have been besieged by requests for donations from candidates and  relief agencies, but if you can spare just a little please help. Perhaps the best way would be to donate to the International Red Cross as they are assisting both Burma (Myanmar) and China and are in the best position to disperse aid.

One DKos poster previously said they would not donate a dime because China is a rich country. I would remind you that due to the 100 year blizzard this past winter and the tons of aid shipped to Burma prior to the earthquake, the nation's emergency rations of tents and food are low. I would also remind Americans that China donated $5,000,000 for Hurricane Katrina relief. So far, the Bush  Administration has offered a paltry $500,000 to China.

...up to 5 million people were homeless and that the government was setting up temporary housing for victims unable to find shelter with relatives. He said nearly 280,000 tents had been shipped to the area and 700,000 more ordered and that factories were ramping up to meet demand. Sichuan's governor said 3 million tents were needed.

China has also allowed foreign aid teams to assist for the first time after initially claiming that they could handle these operations internally.  The Chinese government controlled press has also opened up, allowing some foreign journalists access to the area as well.

Now that the efforts are moving from rescue to recovery, officials say there will be investigations as to why so many schools were damaged.

A top housing official said on Friday that the construction quality of collapsed school buildings will be investigated once rescue work is completed in quake-hit areas.

"If quality problems do exist in the school buildings, those found responsible will be dealt with severely," said Housing and Urban and Rural Construction Minister Jiang Weixin.

As a teacher in  Hainan and Guangxi, China for nearly 4 years, I have witnessed the accelerated pace in which China is building new schools. My 300 year-old university was recently moved to a new complex known as "University City". There are currently 3 modern, very large schools completed with 5 more in various stages of construction. There will eventually be 80,000 students at the complex. There are a several similar projects underway in my old province, Guangxi.

As I see it, the problem could be that Chinese classrooms are physically large by our standards. Class sizes are often 60-100 students per class.  I attribute this to the population. It takes a lot of classrooms and teachers to educate a population of 1.5 billion people as compared to 300 million in roughly the same area as America. I just don't see the quaint 1-story elementary schools here that are very common in Northwestern Ohio.

Please donate if you can.

Xie xie
This capture from Google Earth will give you some idea of the terrain.

By zwoof at 2008-05-21
As you can see, it is very rugged. The fault line is plainly visible on the left. People are still walking out toward Chengdu located on the plains you can see in the upper-right. All of the roads in the river valley were destroyed by landslides.  Some have been re-opened only to be closed again by aftershocks and landslides. Over 200 rescuers have died.

Local CCTV is showing video of these poor people.  One boy carried his injured sister for 9 days through these mountains.

Click this thumbnail for a larger capture of the area via Google Earth

Here are the co-ordinates
latitude   31°27'48.93"N
longitude 103°44'4.66"E

If you have Google Earth, you can fly through the valleys and see some of the cities (pre-quake) in 3D.

Crossposted from DocuDharma