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FROM THE FIELD

China blog
10 Jun 2008 09:12:00 GMT
 Source: Norwegian Red Cross - Norway
Hossam Elsharkawi

Website: Website: http://www.rodekors.no

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Background

•  China earthquake 2008

•  Earthquakes

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June 6,7,8

All our ERUs are running. Water is being distributed and latrines are being set up. The large holding water tank set up by the Spanish Red Cross shows ripples on the surface every hour or so. Aftershocks! Not detectable by us, but certainly ground is moving. Or a very large frog I tell them. One of the sites we have is full of frogs. It rained so hard the night of June 6. The rainy season is here, thunder, lightening, wind, everything. The fields we were working in turned into pure mud. Slowed the set up and distribution operation a lot, and added much to the existing hardship of the population without tents still.

On the 7th the sun came out and we could see the most beautiful clear mountains in the background. The area is so truly mesmerizing in scenery.

But much more work needs to be done. We are reaching tens of thousands, but over hundreds of thousands are still in need in mountainous areas we can not reach.

My last field work yesterday observed hundreds of peoples atop the rubble digging through. Old men and women on collapsed houses and apartment blocks trying to salvage what they can. What they find is nicely laid out in the streets in rows. Something made me very uneasy watching this. It is as if I was intruding into personal lives and I asked our information delegate with the camera to not take pictures.

Walking from water point to water point, the entire town seems to stop and thank us and bow and smile, and.... We bow back and practice the little Chinese we have picked up. But it still feels that we have done very little.

On my last night here, the Secretary Generals of the HQ in Beijing and the Branch in Schuan invite me out with some of our team members and talk about how they are appreciated this support. They say they have learned a lot from the IFRC. I say we learned a lot from them. And we truly have. I am presented with a beautiful glass plate of a Panda bear. A special type painted on both sides. Reminds me of the Panda stuffed toy I saw in the town of Juilong last week and all the stories it can tell, only if...

I leave with a big void deep inside. It feels that the rest of the world is simply very far away. But we have a solid team of over 20 delegates from many nations running excellent services and programs. More will come soon. Last two decision I make to entail organizing for Surgical prefabricated container to come from Oslo to convert a tented surgical theatre into a better and more solid structure due to the heavy rains and storms we are now getting daily, and for 10 large warehouse tents (rub halls) for the operation.

This is the end for me as I hand over today to colleagues from Canada and Finland.

June 3

Spent a lot of time walking amongst the rubble of destroyed homes over the past 2 days. What is striking is the very few children you see. It is the one childe policy in China we suppose. The few we meet, run up and want to hold your hand.

All our equipment has arrived. We have identified the various sites to place water purification plants, distribution points, latrine, etc in the key areas. And we continue to fan out and assess other areas in need of delivery.

People are coping with amazing speed. In the main cities, tens of thousands still sleep in the streets at night due to aftershocks, but during the day you see them so well dressed, functional and working.

I chat with 68 year old farmer who walked 10 km to meet us in the town of Juilong because he heard of latrines we will be bringing. I ask 'how did you know that we are coming today'. He says that 'everyone knows'. I panic a bit inside. We have 400 latrines in the pipelines. We immediately engage in local solutions, local procurement, and local construction solutions. The ERU sanitation team from the UK was up till midnight mapping this. The ERU water team from Spain as well.

I catch Panda stuffed toy again. Still there, many days later. I manage to take picture. Could not help it! It says so much.

The President of the Chinese Red Cross, Madame Peng, 82 years of age, arrives in Chengdu today and thanks the volunteers, the staff, the federation. A very frail but strong woman. Her presence truly inspires the Red Cross volunteers. Their spirits are totally uplifted and it seems they are ready for many more nights of hard work.

May 28 We head to Deyang early with Chinese Red Cross team.

We learn this is Panda country. Schuan is where they live. Driving through urban city centres there are make shift shelter of plastic and metal on both sides of the road as far as the eye can see. But, within two hours, we truly comprehend why the death toll was so high. Village after Village, simply rubble. Thousands of make shift shelters with pieces of plastic and collected building material from destroyed homes. And then you come to the most serene visual of rice fields flooded with water and farmers planting. At one point we pass a totally collapsed home with no one around. A chair is pulled out the rubble, parked in front, with a very big stuffed Panda bear sitting quietly there. Makes you think who played with this toy for years? Are they still on this earth?

We kick into work mode, conduct 4 visits to remote communities to which very little aid has come through. But some, they need more tents, water, food, sanitation facilities. This is pretty much the same story in most of the communities. The aid efforts is super organized by the government. All types of assistance (both national and international) arrive to pre-designated places where teams are waiting. Everything is recorded. Computers and printers in tents keep track. In some areas the Chinese Red Cross relief workers and volunteers are tents side by side next to the government aid officials. They make immediate joint decisions as to distributions, priorities, follow up, etc. I have been in many big disasters in my life time, but have never seen such organization.

The massive camps are not a problem. They are being provided for well in terms of shelter, food, water, hygiene, etc. It is the smaller far away places that we decide to focus on. We decide to place one of the incoming water purification units in a town of 12,000 (400 died in the quake and 3,000 were injured). We are told some bodies are still under the rubble. Not much left to see. The name of the town is Jiulong, which means Night Dragon. How cool is that!

The return trip by 6 pm is a quiet one in the car. There is only so much of this most of us can absorb in one day.

But, we have mobilized more assistance, and in the next 48 hours Red Cross teams are arriving with water purification plants, sanitation facilities, jerry cans, etc. And of course the tents are arriving every day here. IFRC has committed to 100,000 and the planes land daily at Chengdu airport.

May 27 Field work to Du Jaingyan, one hour north of Chengdu.

This area was hard hit. All three hospitals collapsed. Health care now provided by German Red Cross field hospital.

Along the route I notice that a separate middle lane the main road is marked on both sides and we are racing through. I ask, and informed that this is for emergency and Red Cross. Really wonderful to facilitate rapid access. Additionally, our rented 4 wheel drive vehicle is sprayed with disinfectants three times along the one hour trip. You do get a strong impression that the government is very serious about this disaster and possible disease outbreaks.

We do quick assessment with our Chinese Red Cross counterparts and decide to all in for water purification and mass sanitation emergency response units. The Alert goes out from IFRC Geneva to many Red Crosses on standby since the quake hit on May 12. We hope to rapidly assess more tomorrow.

We visit a temporary settlement partly lived in and being expanded by workers. The government is building very very rapidly these quick shelter solutions that include water, sanitation, hygiene, kitchens, power, family kits, and even school. We talk to the displaced families, some moved in one week ago. I peek through the classroom windows at over 50 children aged 7 and 8. I wave a hand, and they scream back hello! How are you! The teacher looks at me, not so happy perhaps for with disruption, but also smiles and thanks us. I certainly hope we can do a lot more to deserve those thanks.

Walk over to dinner at 10 pm and people stop you again to thank you for helping and being in the Red Cross. Not much English, but the faces and the smiles, although many sad ones, say it all.

We are told about much worse conditions in inaccessible areas. So we plan to head there tomorrow 9 am.

May 25,26 After May 12 Quake. Beijing

The newspaper headlines on the flight from BKK to PEK read 'all relief workers will be allowed into Myanmar". Not really sure If I believe that. But moving on to be the Head of Operations for the IFRC for the China Earthquake now. Myanmar, and suddenly, seems so far away!

Arrived to help support Chinese Red Cross operations for earthquake relief. Briefed about 4 to 5 M in Schuan province are homeless. This is the entire population of Norway! How does one even begin to tackle the scale of this disaster? It is all over television, news papers, etc.

First impressions in PEK, amazingly organized city, a lot of green space, flowers, super clean and Olympic signs. People actually smile and greet you. Big bill boards count down to the upcoming summer Olympics, 75 days to go. And then a lot of signs and boards about earthquake relief. A huge national fundraising campaign and outpouring of national donations. To-date over 700 M USD raised nationally. But again, this is a country of 1.3 billion people.

Immediately I get sucked into meetings and briefings and planning sessions. Déjà vu! Just done a lot of that in BKK for 2 weeks waiting to get into Myanmar. I call some colleagues about access and visa and abilities to travel out of Yangon. Not much has changed it seems despite the headlines.

We go for meetings a the headquarters of Chinese Red Cross, and young eager volunteers greet us the entrance. They stand up as we walk in. They have been there day and night accepting donations from the public. Beautiful and most admirable to see.

May 27 Chengdu, capital Schuan province. Arrived at this city hit by the quake. Airport is brand new and not affected. Not much visible damage around the city, but a few tents here and there. Aftershocks, thousands of them have been recorded since May 12 major quake. The taxi refuses to take money because we are Red Cross coming to help. Small gesture, but so moving for the two of us arriving here. The Belgian shelter expert who waited with me as well in BKK is energized and ready to work.

We spend the rest of the night in meetings with the local Chinese Red Cross branch and some of our colleagues from the Beijing IFRC office who have been here since the first days. So much to do. Water, food, tents, blankets, clothing, health care, sanitation facilities, mosquito nets, and on and on. But, we are impressed by how calm and determined the head of operations for the Chinese RC is. We plan to meet again early tomorrow and head to the heavily damaged areas. This is going to be a challenge, but after the frustrations of Myanmar. We will take it. All the tiredness, the fatigue, the lack of sleep, evaporate away tonight.

Hossam K Elsharkawi, PhD Emergency Response Coordinator, Public Health in Emergencies Advisor Norwegian Red Cross Hossam.Elsharkawi@redcross.no


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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