Having received emails from both Heifer and Lee at Sichuan Quake Relief telling us that people where in need of assistance in Southern Gansu, which was also hit by the quake but hadn’t received nearly as much aid or media attention as Sichuan, we set out to determine if the project could potentially help in this area. We were put in contact with Mr Hu, Director of the Golden Monkey Nature Reserve in a remote area in Southern Gansu bordering Sichuan and Shannxi, we sent him our spec sheet for the shelter, and talking through translators discussed whether we could help. Mr Hu told us that the community there were interested so Ali and Sam headed up to check it out. Five days later, two bus rides, two very long taxi rides, two six hour rides in government jeeps along dirt roads, one government banquet, and LOTS of toasts with ruddy cheeked officials later we’re back online again to update you all on what’s going on!

VISIT

The earthquake had destroyed some key bridges along the direct route into Gansu and so our trip took us from Chengdu through Guangyang and Lue Yang in Shannxi to Long Nan Shi, and then on to Yuhe where Mr Hu and the General Yang greeted us at the Golden Monkey Nature Reserve headquarters. We sat down to discuss how the project could help but before we could start we were welcomed by a deep growling and shudder from the mountain beneath us as an aftershock had everyone scrambling out their houses. We were taken around the village to see the extent of the damage and had the opportunity to meet and talk with local people who had been forced down from the hills above as their homes had been totally destroyed. The next morning we drove to Feng Xiang where we again were given a tour of the area and shown the damage caused by the earthquake.

SITUATION THERE

Although far away from the epicentre, the buildings up in the mountains of southern Gansu are mostly mudbrick and wood and as a result fared much worse than concrete buildings further south. Whilst the days are currently hot and humid winter is not far away and with this in mind work is already well underway in Yuhe. Where previously a two story building stood a roof had been built on top of the still standing first floor and other roofs have been replaced on buildings where the walls are intact. All around villagers are salvaging the wood, bricks and tiles from their destroyed houses in preparation for rebuilding. Feng Xiang, the second village we visited was 80% destroyed and nearly all the villagers were living in tents and makeshift shelters above their destroyed village in a muddy field. In both locations settlements above the main villages are even worse off with many hill farmers expected to move down to the larger villages to be housed in the villages as they are rebuilt.

OUR CONTRIBUTION

It has been a full month since the quake and most of the villagers have already built fairly sturdy shelters using salvaged materials. Following our survey of the situation and discussions with the village leaders and the local people, we have decided that the best way we can assist is by providing good quality durable tarpaulin and other roofing materials for their shelters. This makes sense since they already have plenty of wood for building new frames and most of the flat space for placing new temporary shelters is already occupied. The majority of the existing shelters are not water or wind proof and providing tarpaulin will provide an immediate improvement in living conditions for the people affected by the earthquake.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 12:52 pm and is filed under Shelters, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.