Tibetannet

When the 2008 "May 12" earthquake struck, I was teaching graduate students in a classroom in Beijing.

A schoolfellow from Inner Mongolia called me and said, "your hometown Wenchuan just had an earthquake!"

After class, I discovered that all contact with my hometown had become cut off. I felt very anxious for my mother and three younger brothers who were still there, but I could only get any information on what had happened to my hometown through the media coverage.

The sudden earthquake caused an unprecedented disaster in Wenchuan: basic infrastructure was seriously damaged, and the highway that had just recently been completed from Dujiangyan to Wenchuan was nearly toppled. 80 percent of houses in the county needed to be rebuilt and most rural houses collapsed, but the rural people were not even well off enough to rebuild. What would happen to those who survived, what could they do? How could we build a better and stronger Wenchuan after such a disaster? These were the issues that most concerned the people of Wenchuan.

One month after the earthquake, I was appointed to a specialist group by the Ministry of Culture (now known as Ministry of Culture and Tourism), and I had the opportunity to visit my hometown after the disaster. As we were unable to enter Wenchuan due to the severe road damage, we were only able to examine the situations in Dujiangyan, Mianzhu, and Beichuan. The miserable situation in the county town of Beichuan was very painful to see. Wenchuan seemed to be luckier, however, both urban and rural areas suffered unprecedented losses. It was not until Spring Festival in 2009 that I was able to meet some of my relatives who had relocated to Chengdu, and to learn from them that some of my classmates and acquaintances had been killed in the earthquake.

The destruction brought about by the earthquake exceeded people's imaginings. A close uncle of mine was missing after the earthquake. His family and friends searched through all the rescue hospitals and bodies of victims, but they couldn't find him. Finally, it was determined through DNA identification that he had been killed, but they could not recognize him in any of the corpses they had repeatedly searched. In the face of such huge natural disasters, human beings are too small and fragile. One of my high school classmates and his wife were buried along with their house in a landslide. Their child was orphaned instantly. Another classmate was buried in a road tunnel along with his car. Although several highway tunnels did not collapse, and many of them even became safe havens for cars and passengers traveling on the rugged mountain roads, this particular tunnel that my classmate had been traveling through became blocked on both ends, turning into a passageway of death. The visit to Beichuan County after the earthquake is a particularly profound memory that I will never forget.

The mountains and rivers were crushed, and a thousand things needed to be done to rebuild. In Dujiangyan City, signs of the disaster were being erased by active relief efforts. In addition to newly built shacks on the outskirts of town, workers had cleared and leveled the rubble. The firecrackers and fireworks from Spring Festival had been ardent, but they had seemed as a special commemoration to the dead, not as the festive atmosphere of a festival. Much of the marketplace was deserted, but some hawkers were still tenaciously did business. They said they must continue to live with dignity.

The old town of Yingxiu was totally ruined and was being guarded by armed police. Ruins of the earthquake remain clear in my mind: a wreath placed by then-Premier Wen Jiabao in front of a collapsed classroom building at Xuankou Middle School from a commemoration event during Spring Festival; the dew on yellow and white chrysanthemums like people's tears. From time to time, someone came here to mourn, and it became an altar to the earthquake in Yingxiu.

Almost every household in the hard-hit areas had a family member or friend killed or injured. After the earthquake people were busy with self-rescue and reconstruction efforts. Days were better than nights, when people were forced to face reality, the nightmare caused by the disaster was still lingering. Post-traumatic stress disorders might last for six months, a year, or even longer. Allowing time to heal the wounds of the soul may be a long and difficult process, just like restoring the damaged natural environment.

Reconstruction work 10 years after the earthquake

Wenchuan has always been faced with a conflict of too many people and not enough land. The earthquake and rebuilding efforts afterwards brought about a large amount of land reduction, and the farming base in the mountains was shaken. In particular, after the completion of post-disaster reconstruction, the chance of finding hard labor work will gradually decrease, and issues surrounding ordinary people's livelihoods and local sustainable development will become more prominent. What's more, the earthquake and reconstruction not only ran out of the resources of the common people, but also put a lot of people into debt.

Post-disaster reconstruction had been everywhere in Wenchuan, and everyone from government officials to common people was busy with it. Towns and villages were full of construction sites. The army's disaster relief force later became the "Guangdong Aid Army", full of southern accents; the concept of "Guangdong" for the people of Wenchuan went from abstract to concrete, from far away to personal, from stranger to familiar. People from Guangdong could be found everywhere, in government offices, people's shock-resistant tents, and nearly all construction sites.

Post-disaster rebuilding turned Wenchuan, my hometown, into a giant construction site. The scars and memories brought on by the great earthquake are being wiped away bit by bit. Wenchuan County's urban and rural areas have all transformed. The village once built on hillsides and its traditional wood and stone residences have mostly been rebuilt into two- and three-story modern buildings with strong ethnic characteristics. All the townships and villages have been rebuilt, and the unrelenting efforts and struggles of the people in the disaster areas are awe-inspiring. Yingxiu Township, the epicenter of the earthquake, gathered the designs of excellent architects from around the world. Weizhou Town, the county seat of Wenchuan County, has become a large urban garden, and even the cemetery where my father lies has been carefully restored. Almost everyone says that the post-disaster reconstruction has made Wenchuan's economic, social, and cultural development advance at least 30 years.

What does Wenchuan tell the world?

The system of "pairing aid" to disaster area formed in the Wenchuan earthquake has become a model for emergency response to disasters and helping the poor, playing an increasingly important role. With the approval of the State Council, each year since 2009, May 12 has become National Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day.

A "historical drama" featuring all kinds of help and support from across the country has been staged after the Wenchuan Earthquake. Not only have the impressive engineering projects of post-disaster reconstruction and ever-changing developments left unforgettable impressions on people, those numerous unsung heroes who devote themselves to disaster relief and those countless supporters for post-earthquake reconstruction are much loftier. The people in the disaster areas will never forget their selfless contributions.

The Wenchuan disaster area has undergone 10 years of arduous reconstruction, and great changes have taken place. Almost every year during Spring Festival, I return to my hometown to have a look. The changes in Wenchuan are so great that it is now unrecognizable. Wenchuan's pace of development has been so fast that it makes people dizzy. In 2017, Wenchuan County's GDP was 5.575 billion yuan (0.875 billion US dollars), 2.6 times higher than in 2008. The per capita disposable income of urban residents reached 29,472 yuan (4626.6 US dollars), 1.7 times higher than in 2008. The per capita disposable income of rural residents reached 12,243 yuan (1921.9 US dollars), which is 3.5 times higher than in 2008.

My hometown has changed a lot. The earthquake brought about great destruction, but the destruction brought about great reconstruction, and reconstruction has brought about great development.　　

Wenchuan, my hometown, I used to cry for you, but I am also constantly surprised by you. I look forward to seeing you continue to demonstrate the unyielding spirit of mankind and an infinitely beautiful future!