Profound Loss, Anguish, Uncertainty
It is simply amazing the inner strength that people can draw upon. The struggle for survival against all odds. That people can still, so long after China's earthquake - now upgraded to a 8.0 magnitude quake - be found on the rare occasion, alive.The survivors of that monstrous upheaval faced the very worst that nature could slam at their frail existence. Living in far-flung regions of the country, earning a subsistence living, cherishing their families, educating and raising the next generation, and suddenly life comes to a halt.
For those who live so far away from the catastrophe, it's difficult to imagine - even while shocked empathy is there - the immensity of the event. Cities, towns, villages destroyed. Schools and factories collapsed. Dams in danger of collapse.
Succeeding after-shocks; smaller, though still-powerful quakes. Damage done to the structures containing nuclear reactions. Landslides shutting off road access. Mud and rubble stopping lake outflows leaving the distinctly fearful threats of flooding.
Countless people left homeless, bereft of immediate assistance. Hunger, thirst, the misery of exposure to the elements without shelter. The anguish of looking for loved ones whose whereabouts remain unknown; possibly dead, possibly evacuated, possibly injured and being treated elsewhere in that vast country now so destabilized.
Cardboard and plastic, bits of wood lend themselves to lean-tos where people seek shelter from wind, sun and rain. The fortunate ones are being provided with rice, water, newly harvested cabbages.
"We need to move as fast as possible, with no delays, to speed life-saving medicines, vaccinations, water purification tablets, oral rehydration salts, obstetrics and surgical kits, water containers", UNICEF's China representative explains.
The average disposable income in Sichuan province, for example, was roughly $275 annually. Enough to eke out existence. No savings, how could there be? How then will these people, those who survived, plan their future, be capable of re-building, get on with life? Those who plied a trade have lost the tools of their trade.
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has announced that survivors facing difficulties will receive a daily allowance of 500 grams of grain and 10 yuan ($1.43) for a three-month period. That is immediate relief, but scant promise for the future.
Disaster relief experts continually test the quality of the river water. Where possible, garbage is collected and disposed of; people issued insect coils against the flies and mosquitoes bearing the potential for disease transmission.
Those areas where the survivors have been reached and aided face hygiene problems with insufficient toilets. Water is provided by trucks for washing up. This is living in the rough; not even modest amenities for the vast population of survivors who managed to escape the devastating upheaval's worst excesses. Alive, but bereft of family members.
How will these bereaved, shocked and traumatized people adjust to normalcy, to a life ongoing, the everyday struggle for existence; complications multiplied from what they've already experienced throughout their meagre existence. How many of these now frail psyches will succumb to despair, mental illness, an inability to carry on?
The vast and difficult problem of providing for the survivors for the immediate present, the clean-up process for the near future, the reconstruction will proceed as it must. But rescue workers and relief workers, having paused to express the nation's grief for a three minute ritual of painful respect will carry on.
The official death count nearing 35,000. And counting.
Labels: Nature, Troublespots, World Crises
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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