Damaged house
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Yajiang Earthquake Report and Request for Aid
(report 4 in the series)
Kham Aid Foundation
Tel 213 627-5331 Email: khamaid@khamaid.org
Summary
A magnitude 6.1earthquake on Feb 23, 2001 in southern Yajiang County has caused severe hardship in four townships, and destroyed the local economy. Some forms of aid, such as tents, have already been provided by the Chinese government. Our field team found that long-term economic recovery of the afflicted area can be best assisted by improving access, which is currently impeded by narrow, damaged trails and a broken bridge. We request a sum of $20,000 for construction of a new bridge and improvement of the road. These measures will enable the earthquake victims to help themselves toward a speedy recovery.
PART ONE
Visit to the affected region, a first-hand report
by Wu Bangfu, Field Office Director, April 9, 2001
Introduction
I spent two days in the earthquake region in southern Yajiang County, conducting investigations on 5, 6 April. On the way to the site, I met many county officials who are, even now, guiding the local people and the township officials to do relief work for the earthquake victims. I also saw caravans of horses carrying relief goods, and the tents where victims are living.
The severely afflicted area includes four townships, Boshihe, Yayihe, Bayirong and Egu townships. The epicenter is in Boshihe township. I couldn’t visit the epicenter partly because of strong aftershocks and the bad condition of the bridges, road and many loose rocks still cascading down the steep slopes. My investigations were carried out in Egu township. Even here, I heard the giant noise of the aftershocks, saw many flying rocks, and felt strong aftershocks. The lives of the people there are very difficult, and they will face a more difficult task to rebuild their homes. They need all kinds of help.
Damaged house
Plastic shelter
Current living conditions
Now, the aftershocks are not so frequent as before, but still strong. Houses which have been damaged and distorted by the earthquake and aftershocks are continuing to collapse. Some people have been living in the tents, but some have to shelter in temporary sheds made of plastic in the open air, which are flimsy and vulnerable to strong wind.
At about 2:30 am, and 1:03 pm on April 6, two strong aftershocks occurred. We could feel the strong shocks and hear the great noise. Such strong aftershocks make the people afraid, so that everyday many people visit the township government to ask for tents, but in fact there are no tents left over for them. In the four severely afflicted townships, the government has already distributed all of the tents provided by the central government. In the epicenter township (Boshihe), all of the 174 families received good quality tents. Only half of 382 families in Bayirong township and 219 families in Yayuhe township got tents. But of the 316 families in Egu township, only 66 got tents, though the houses of 53 families collapsed and 43 semi-collapsed, and all of the other houses suffered different damage with cracked, distorted and inclined walls and tilted piers, and none of these houses are fit for the people to live in. The people without tents only live in the temporary sheds covered with plastic. Families are crowded together in small tents, which adversely affects the health of old people and young children.
The geographic situation of the afflicted area
All of the four severely afflicted townships are located in the very steep mountainous area.
(see map). The geographic condition is very bad: rocks are loose, mud-and-rock slides often happen, especially as the rainy season is beginning now. After the earthquake, there was frequent rockfall. While I was traveling to the afflicted area, some rocks flew down and struck me in the face, breaking my looking-glasses. The transportation situation is bad and has impeded the relief work. The relief goods can’t be sent to the victims of the earthquake because of the great distance and rugged terrain. Basic building materials such as cement can’t reach the area. The logging ban prevents the local people from cutting timber for reconstruction. Also, local products can’t be gotten out..
Entrance to the earthquake-affected area: the Yalong River valley
The four townships are located in the south part of Yajiang county. To reach the area, I traveled south by jeep for two hours and 37 km from the county seat, to where the road ended. Thereafter the trail is only passable by tuolaji tractor. Riding on a tractor for 22 km and 2.5 hours brought me to the first severely afflicted township called Egu.
After Egu, there is not even a tractor road for the other three severely afflicted townships. The Bayirong township is on the south-east of Egu village, only 8 km far away from Egu, but it requires more than four hours to travel this distance by horse. The other two townships (Yayihe and Boshihe) are much farther to the southwest. The path leads to a high mountain pass with the altitude of more than 4500 meters. In order to do the relief work well, the county government planned to have built the tractor road to cross this pass, and later the tractor road might extend to the two townships, if an allocation is made available by the county government.
Damaged footpath
Temporary wooden bridge
The earthquake’s adverse effect on education
In Egu township, there are four primary schools. One is located in Egu Village, this is the central primary school. Eighty-four students in the vicinity of the village attended the school before the earthquake, but there are only 48 students learning in the school after the earthquake, partly because the school can’t provide enough tents for classrooms and dormitory, partly because the road is too dangerous for them to go to school every day, Flying rocks might injure them at any time when they are on the way to and from the school. Of the 48 students, eight are from the nearby villages, they have to stay with their relatives, because the school doesn’t have tents for them to live in.
Mr. Jing Shong, the headmaster of the school, who is also in charge of all the schools in the township told me there are three village schools in the township, which are separately located at Yageng village, Tangjie and Tanggang villages. There are 15 students and two teachers in Yageng village school, 24 students and one teacher in Tangjie village school, and 35 students and two teachers in Tanggang village school. Yageng School and Tangjie school have been moved to the temporary sheds made of plastic. Of course, the plastic sheds are not strong enough to fend off the wind, and this makes teaching difficult.
Tanggang school has been moved to a villager’s house which is strong enough for the students to live in. All of the three village schools are three-hours-walking far way from the Township seat. The students can only study in the village school from grade one to grade three. Afterwards, they have to go to the Township central primary school to complete the remaining grades. Some have to drop out from school because of the long distance to the central primary school and poverty of the families. Now, in the village schools, some of the students are often absent from the school due to the effects of the earthquake.
The classrooms and the dormitory of the school in Egu central primary school were seriously damaged, the walls tilted, distorted and cracked. The classrooms were moved to the plastic sheds. The eight teachers have to live in tents. The situation in the other three townships is a more severe than in this school. When I asked the township officials whether they have any idea how to solve these problems of the school, they answered that they do not know what to do.
The earthquake’s effect on family income
For the immediate future, the main goal of the local people is to earn enough income to recover their normal lives. In these villages, the main agricultural products are maize, wheat, barley, mushrooms. Because of the geographic situation, the products can’t be delivered to the market quickly enough for the farmers to get a good price. Agricultural land is also in shortage. In Egu township, the average farming land for each people is only 0.75 mu.
In the affected area, steep mountain limits pasturage for livestock, and this contributes to general poverty. The average family in Egu has only three animals. The earthquake disaster killed more than 800 animals which were struck by flying rocks or fell down from the steep slopes. At that time people were concerned for their lives; it was impossible for them to take care of their livestock. As a result, the people will face severe economic hardship in the next few years.
As soon as I got to Egu village, the village chief, Geram Tseren, told me the difficult lives of the villagers. He said there are 59 families including more than 380 people living in the village. The earthquake damaged all of the houses, most of them have to live in temporary sheds made of plastic distributed by the county government. They don’t have enough land for the villagers to live on. The work for the people to rebuild their home is very hard. Government aid is not sufficient, and they need outside help.
Suggested relief work
I asked the villagers and the county, district and township government officials how best relief aid can be used to solve most acute problems. They put forward several suggestions.
1. The first suggested program is to build a running water system in the Egu village for the local people and livestock. Before the earthquake, there was a canal to direct the water from a stream for the people and the livestock to drink, but the earthquake damage the canal. But this program can only benefit some of the victims of the earthquake. Anyway, this village is not the most severely-afflicted area. Therefore I judge that this is not the best use of relief funds, although it is certainly needed.
2. Help the most severe victims build their houses. The problem with this program is that there are so many houses collapsed in the earthquake, it will be very difficulty to select the families to be helped. If we carry on this program, there will be so many people ask for help, and we might bring about some conflicts between the people who get our help and the people who don’t get help from us.
3. Enlarge the tractor road between Geqika (the Malangcuo township seat), where the jeep can reach, and Egu village so that the road between Yajiang county seat and Egu village can be passable for the jeeps and small trucks. If the tractor road can be widened, it will help enormously the people in the four severely-afflicted townships to carry the agricultural and side-line products to sell in town. The problem with this program is that the people in the epicenter area will get less benefit from this program. And the road will be easily damaged by the flood in rainy season, too. According to the local people, in rainy season, the tractor road can be passable only for half of the time.
4. Build a tractor road between Egu Village and Bayirong. At present, there is only a horse trail for the people in Bayirong to travel to the outside. The distance between the two villages is only 8 km, but it takes more than four hours on horseback to travel between them. The slope in this area is very steep, the rocks are very loose, and this makes travel extremely hazardous. The earthquake damaged some part of the horse trail, and afflicted the people in the township very severely, it is very difficult to carry the relief goods for the victims of the earthquake. Even now, some of the relief goods can’t reach the victims there. Most of the people are very poor because the geographic condition limits their income. The best way to assist the local people to recover from the earthquake is to make their agricultural and side-line products easy to send out.. The area is so isolated that few people there have ever seen a bicycle in their lives.
5. Build a bridge in Egu Village. There used to be a wooden bridge for tractors to pass though, but the earthquake damaged it. In order to carry the relief goods for the victims of the earthquake, the county government has set up a temporary wood bridge, but it will not stand up to summer floods. The villagers told me that, every year, the bridge is washed away by the flood. But this bridge is the critical point for the four severely-afflicted townships. If the there is no bridge at this point, it is impossible for the tractors to carry goods for the victims of the earthquake. The bridge there will benefit to all the 6638 people in the four severely afflicted townships.
Conclusion
The results of my investigation show that four townships in an isolated part of southern Yajiang county are in serious need of additional help to recover from earthquake damage. A number of projects were suggested by the local people and county officials. Among these I feel that bridge and road repair is the most helpful for all the people in the earthquake zone, because it will enable them to earn income with which to repair their homes and rebuild their lives. Most forms of aid are transitory, but rebuilding and strengthening this crucial artery will provide both immediate and long-term benefit.
PART TWO
Bridge Construction Project Proposal
by Pamela Logan, president, April 25, 2001
The earthquake was, of course, unexpected, and since it occurred all attention has been on the victim’s acute needs for medical care, food, and shelter. That is why we do not yet have a detailed budget and engineering plans for bridge construction and road repair.
Generally speaking, the more money you spend, the better transportation system you can build. The area is steep; it has heavy summer rainfall, and is subject to frequent flash floods, therefore we would like to strengthen the bridge and access road to the maximum that funds allow.
On behalf of the people of Boshihe, Yayihe, Bayirong and Egu townships, we request $20,000 for bridge construction and extension of the road.
Once funds are raised (or at least an initial seed fund), we will hire an engineer to draw up plans, and calculate a detailed budget, which will be submitted to you according to your direction.
Photographs of the construction will be provided, and sponsors are welcome to send an inspection team at any time..
Please contact us if there are any questions. To reach the authors of this report, please use the following
addresses:
Wu Bangfu (China) wubangfu@khamaid.org
Pamela Logan (USA) khamaid@khamaid.org
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