Flooding: Relief Supplies Distributed
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2 | Tuesday, July 27, 2021 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY PAGE TWO Left and center: Rescue teams help evacuate residents in Xinxiang, Henan province, on Friday. PHOTOS BY WANG JING AND WU XIAOHUI / CHINA DAILY Right: Li Yingzhan, a farmer in Weihui county, suburban Xinxiang, attempts to pull his wife and mother to safety on Friday. WANG JING / CHINA DAILY Flooding: Relief supplies distributed From page 1 their skin is heavily bronzed by the sun. In an online video, hairdresser “When local residents applaud Yu said he was surprised to have their efforts, they feel shy and only attracted so much attention in respond by giggling,” Du said. cyberspace. Li Feng, head of Green Boat “I don’t understand why that Emergency Rescue, which is also happened,” he said, standing headquartered in Beijing, said her ankle-deep in muddy water. “All organization sent 31 members to our team members have set aside help with disaster relief work in everything related to their ordi- Henan. The team members include nary work and have come to help. I a bus driver, doctor and a business- don’t think that in any way I am man. outstanding.” Li, who works for an internation- According to Blue Sky Rescue, al company in Beijing, did not trav- Yu is one of the 856 members who el to Henan, but she has barely have been at the forefront of flood managed to get more than three relief work in Henan since 4 pm on hours’ sleep for the past few days as Wednesday. The organization, she liaises with team members on which is headquartered in Beijing, the distribution of disaster relief is the country’s first registered materials. nonprofit volunteer outfit. In addition to helping local Just 24 hours earlier, Zheng- authorities monitor flood-stricken zhou, the Henan provincial capi- areas, evacuate residents and tal, was hit by record hourly assist doctors in providing medical precipitation of up to 201.9 milli- services in isolated locations, the meters. team has allocated disaster relief Liu Daqing, a member of Blue materials to residents in 10 remote Sky Rescue in Shandong villages, Li said. province, who works for an insur- To date, the team has distributed ance company, said his 87-strong materials valued at 5 million yuan team comprising members across ($771,000), she added. the province started to gather “I haven’t slept much, not only around midnight on Tuesday because I am busy with coordina- soon after receiving a request to tion work, but also because I am reinforce flood control efforts in worried about the safety of my Henan. team,” she said. Traveling in cars, the group Li said media reports have members quickly joined evacua- appeared about dangerous situa- tion work after arriving in Xinmi, a tions, such as the dam breach and county in Zhengzhou, at about 9 an explosion at a chemical plant. am amid torrential rain. After the She added, “The team often had no situation improved in Xinmi, the mobile phone signal and I couldn’t group headed to Xinxiang, one of get in touch with them.” the hardest-hit cities, at 4 am on Floodwaters up to 2 meters deep Friday. in some areas continue to chal- “We are currently stationed at a lenge the team. school, living in students’ dorms. Despite local authorities allocat- We have nothing but cushions on ing two assault boats to help the our beds,” Liu posted. Top: Residents are rescued from flooded villages in Xinxiang. WANG JING / CHINA DAILY Left: Members of Green Boat Emergency Rescue relocate team’s work on Saturday, the group Rain and flooding eased in residents trapped for three days in Dakui village, Xinxiang, on Saturday. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Right: Residents in Muye district, Xinxiang, are members had yet to reach the ves- urban areas of Xinxiang on Satur- relocated to a temporary shelter on Sunday morning. WU XIAOHUI / CHINA DAILY sels, which were 14 kilometers day as the water level dropped. away, as they lacked transportation However, floodwaters up to 2 to pass through areas inundated by meters deep continued to cause nation’s civilian rescue teams have gency Management. cue operation in chest-high water, flooding and those that were not havoc in many rural areas. One car taken part in flood disaster relief they were called out again on under floodwaters. broke down as the team members work. Lack of sleep another urgent mission. Li said she expects the team to sought a return route from an We are currently In August last year, Zhou Heading a team of 12 with an After part of a dam was breached return soon, signaling the end of evacuation mission on Saturday in stationed at a school, Xuewen, director-general of the average age of about 30, Du Botao, on the Weihe River, they were told one task, but not others. an area inundated by flooding. State Flood Control and Drought who runs a hardware store in to go to a location where there “As an organization that concen- Despite the grave situation, Liu’s living in students’ Relief Headquarters, said more Fuxian county, Shaanxi province, were potential hazards and stand trates on rescue work, we seldom teammates are continuing to apply dorms. We have than 14,000 people from some 500 was one of those who arrived in by in case there was an emergency. engage in disaster relief efforts. to go to Henan. civilian rescue teams across the Henan on Wednesday. However, no breaches occurred in With the arrival of Typhoon In-Fa, Liu said at least 1,400 fellow vol- nothing but cushions country had joined flood allevia- Du said members of his group the section of the dam the team we may have to withdraw the team unteers nationwide have regis- on our beds.” tion efforts in southern areas. from the nonprofit emergency res- members were guarding. members as soon as possible,” she tered with Blue Sky Rescue’s With their own funding and cue organization Leiting, which “I had never seen such severe said. temporary headquarters in the Liu Daqing, member of Blue Sky equipment, the civilian rescuers translates as “quick as lightning”, flooding. I was scared,” Du said. The team members have been on province. Rescue in Shandong province, helped relocate 40,000 people only managed to get a few hours’ His children attend kindergar- standby in case their services are working with his team members The organization is one of at in flood-stricken Xinxiang, from affected locations, Zhou told sleep every day due to the amount ten, and Du said he phoned home required since the typhoon made least 103 civilian rescue teams that Henan a news conference organized by of rescue work. every day. “I know they worry landfall in Zhejiang province on arrived in the province on Wednes- the State Council Information He said they got to bed around about me a lot, although they never Sunday. day, according to China Philan- Office. midnight on Saturday after rush- tell me that,” he said. Some of them need to return to thropy Times, quoting a center set To date, 1,775 civilian rescue ing to Weihui county from Zheng- He added that it seems as if his their normal occupations, Li added. up to coordinate the work of civil- teams with a total of 620,000 zhou to help cope with the grim team members never feel tired and ians in Zhengzhou. members are registered in China, situation. Just two hours later, aft- hungry, even though their clothes Contact the writers at It is not the first time that the according to the Ministry of Emer- er they had been involved in a res- are drenched by muddy water and [email protected] doctor has been inherited,” he said. Medical intern saves dozens of lives as floodwaters engulf subway train Yu Zhensheng has taken part in the fight against SARS and COV- ID-19, as well as in rescue efforts By SHI BAOYIN in Zhengzhou Yu was Meanwhile, as water continued to “I checked whether each person’s “My knees and feet were cut by after the Wenchuan earthquake in and YE ZIZHEN in Beijing stranded in a flow into the carriages, passengers’ life was in danger,” he said. fragments of broken glass, and the 2008. subway train fears rose. When subway workers “Those in hypothermic shock white coat was stained with blood People nationwide hailed his Yu Yifei, a 26-year-old medical on Line 5 as he arrived to evacuate them, Yu man- from the cold water needed blan- and mud,” he said. son’s efforts. In response, Yu Yifei intern at People’s Hospital of made his way aged to get out, unlike others who kets to warm up. I administered He called home and left the sub- said he would work harder Zhengzhou in Henan province, home at 5 pm were trapped by the constantly ris- CPR to people who were uncon- way station at about midnight, wad- “because the people of the nation saved about a dozen people after a day’s ing water. scious and near death from drown- ing into the storm. will be my supervisor”. trapped in a flooded subway train training. Flood- As he made his way to safety, he ing.” Three hours later, he met his On Thursday, in appreciation of when torrential rain lashed the Yu Yifei waters crashed heard a cry for help from someone As more passengers were pulled father, Yu Zhensheng, at a highway his courage and contribution, Peo- city on July 20.