In Geelong, feel the warmth of helping each other (on-site special report)
Liu Mingyuan, Interim Party Branch Secretary of China Railway Southern Emergency and Disaster Relief Headquarters
“Nail the road back to the earth”
Our reporter Xu Yuyao
Late at night in Jilong Town, a temporary processing plant is brightly lit. Welding flowers bloomed one after another, and the steel bars were bent into a skeleton in the firelight, and then tightened with wires. The workers were squatting next to the gabions, busy with their hands. The finished products piled next to them had been arranged into rows of gray "big baskets." This is the most important position for Liu Mingyuan, interim party branch secretary of the China Railway Southern Emergency and Disaster Relief Headquarters - the reinforced gabion processing plant.
After the completion of National Highway 216, the bigger problem is "stability": the road temporarily filled in soft soil will collapse again after heavy vehicles run for ten days and a half. "What we have to do is to 'nail' the road to the ground again." Liu Mingyuan said that by filling in steel gabions, the temporary road can be made more stable.
After the disaster occurred, the China Railway Southern Emergency and Disaster Relief Headquarters simultaneously mobilized two project departments within 500 kilometers of the surrounding area. Excavators, loaders, and dump trucks set out overnight. It also transferred 1,000 tons of high-standard steel bars and nearly 100 steel workers from Lhasa to work 24 hours a day.
Liu Mingyuan has to visit three sites a day: the processing plant, the quarrying site, and the filling site. He is watching the data change - as of September 5, a total of 1,959 steel gabions have been processed and transported, 10,498 cubic meters of stone have been shipped, and 10,066 cubic meters of quarrying have been cleared. Geotextiles, paving steel plates and other materials were also transported from Lhasa to the front line of disaster relief.
There is also a dangerous point, which is on the four to five hundred meter slope next to the country gate.
After the mudslide, the mountain was washed loose by the rain, and the gravel could fall down at any time. "In order to prevent secondary disasters, we plan to lay out a protective net close to the mountain to ensure road safety." Liu Mingyuan said with emotion, "It is more important than anything else that the road can be passed and people and materials can pass."
Under the light, rows of steel gabions lay heavy beside the roadbed, like gray spines. The road leading to the country's gate is being "nailed" to the earth again inch by inch.
Electrical emergency repair team
“Wherever there is road access, electricity will be guaranteed.”
Our reporter Xian Dare
At 8 o'clock in the evening on September 5, as the sky was getting dark, three high-power searchlights lit up at the same time in the national gate area of Tibet's Gyirong Port, instantly lighting up the rescue scene.
"While repairing National Highway 216, we worked non-stop in shifts, and on the evening of September 3, we rushed through the temporary power supply line to the national gate area and restored power supply," said Pu Qiong, general manager of the State Grid Jilong County Power Supply Company.
At around 10 a.m. on August 26, after the debris flow disaster occurred, Jilong County Power Supply Company immediately received a message from the superior distribution department. "The line map showed that the end of the 10 kV line in the direction of the hot rope bridge was operating abnormally. Everyone thought that something happened in the direction of the port." Puqiong said.
"The damaged road section was full of mud, and the car couldn't move on it. The mud reached up to the knees when one stepped on it." At around 11 a.m., Puqiong and his colleagues drove a repair vehicle to 3 kilometers away from the national gate area, and found it difficult to continue moving forward. Everyone parked the emergency vehicle nearby and started working to ensure the lighting of the temporary headquarters.
Soon, an emergency repair team of more than 150 people gathered in Geelong from surrounding Nyalam, Tingri, Saga and other places.
Nojiucunzhen is the driver of the Nyalam County Power Supply Company. After coming to Geelong to provide support, he was at the forefront whether it was transporting equipment or assisting in setting up. His left palm was injured, and over the next few days, the wound that had been stitched opened again and again during the support.
"Our operation area is close to the road construction site. On the left is the rocky cliff and on the right is the rolling Gyirong Zangbo." said Mima, the leader of the first operation and inspection team of Jilong County Power Supply Company, who has been sticking to the front line. "Everyone has a firm belief: wherever the road is connected, power will be guaranteed."
The first telegraph pole was erected at noon on August 30, and all 54 telegraph poles were assembled on September 3, and nearly 10 kilometers of power transmission wires were deployed... It took a full 100 hours for the emergency repair team to overcome risks such as landslides and frequent rockfalls, and successfully completed the task of ensuring power supply in the national gate area.
Medical and psychological assistance team
"Try to help them find the courage to live"
Reporters Song Haoxin Qiongda Zhuoga
"Does it hurt?" "Does it feel easier?"
At around 8 o'clock in the evening, at the resettlement site for the families of missing persons in Jilong Town, Dorje Tsering, director of the Internal Medicine Department of the Tibetan Hospital in Shigatse City, stood next to an old grandmother, gently pressing the acupuncture points on her head and asking in a low voice. The old grandmother closed her eyes, and her original nervousness gradually relaxed.
After the disaster, Dorje Tsering rushed from Shigatse city to Jilong Town as soon as possible. At the resettlement site, he and his colleagues visited rooms from room to room every night to provide medical treatment to the families of missing persons in need.
Local party members and cadres have also been staying at the resettlement sites to promptly respond to the appeals of the families of the victims and missing persons.
"There is a mother with two children in our resettlement site, the youngest of which is only 8 months old. We deliver meals directly to her room every day, as well as supplies such as milk powder and diapers." Gezhen is the deputy mayor of Jilong Town and is on call at the resettlement site 24 hours a day.
After the disaster, the local government took the initiative to contact the families of the victims and those who were missing, patiently and meticulously received and comforted the families, and responded to their concerns in a timely manner. A total of 587 family members were received and resettled, involving 253 family members of the domestic victims and missing people. At the same time, 70 professionals have been arranged to provide psychological counseling to the families of the victims and missing persons. A total of 1,107 people have been comforted, and more than 1,220 cadres have been organized to provide service guarantees.
At a resettlement site in Jilong Town, a psychological assistance expert team assigned by the National Health Commission conducted visits, communicated face-to-face with the families of the victims and missing persons, and provided psychological assistance.
Li Yuchen, a member of the psychological assistance expert group and associate professor at the Mental Health Center of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, told reporters that for the families of the victims and missing people, the loss of sense of security is the most obvious feeling. "There are still many days ahead, and our role is to try to help them find the courage to live."
Children mailing postcards
“I hope there will be no ‘yes’ at the port”
Reporter Shi Pengfei
After the rain, the town of Jilong gradually regained its tranquility.
The reporter came to the "Tibet in the Sky" theme post office in the town and found that someone came here to send postcards. Gusang Dundup, a postal worker, told reporters a story from a few days ago.
On August 30, seven children came to the post office and said they wanted to send postcards to the police, doctors, soldiers, and firefighters on the front line. Among them, the older one has just entered the first grade of elementary school, and the younger one is still in the kindergarten class.
The children drew one stroke at a time and wrote seriously. If you make a mistake, use a pen to blacken it out.
Kelsang Yangjin wrote especially slowly, scribbling and scribbling - "I was very sad after the flood came! Come on, the port! I hope the port is safe! I hope there is nothing wrong with the port!"
The young Kelsang Yangjin could not distinguish between floods and mudslides, and even wrote "thing" as "is" by mistake. Gusang Dundup said with emotion: "But the children's wish for everyone at the port to be safe is unmistakable."
Gusang Dundup, 26, is from Shannan, Tibet. He studied at Tibet University for Nationalities in Xianyang, Shaanxi, and joined the Party in his junior year. After the disaster, he stayed in Jilong Town to ensure smooth postal communications.
During the interview, Gusang Dundup told reporters that compared with before the disaster, many fewer people went to the post office to send postcards these days, and more of them were frontline rescue workers.
Most of the covers of the postcards they chose were photos of the port joint inspection building. The back of one of the postcards that had been sent said, "The place in the photo is out of print. Cherish the moment." Another one reads, "Mountains and rivers will be hurt, but faith and hope will not."
Wang Congyu, associate professor and psychological expert at the People's Public Security University of China, said: "For the disaster-stricken people, especially children, the key to psychological reconstruction is to help them feel again that life can go on and the future is still worth looking forward to."
Source: People's Daily Online
