Wednesday, May 21
I visit the Beichuan Qiang autonomous prefecture, northwest of the city ofMianyang in Sichuan province. Beichuan lies on the same fault line as Pingwu.It is one of the worst-hit areas and has sustained heavy loss of life anddamage to property. A fellow passenger on the bus is a Beichuan native who wasairlifted out of the small township of Zhicheng, in Beichuan, only yesterday.
"Why are you hurrying back to Beichuan, since you just got rescued?"I ask.
"To look for my dad. When a disaster like this strikes, the most importantthing is family," she says. "My dad is a worker. He was working onthe streets in open air when it happened… I don't know if he's dead oralive. He may be buried underneath."
"She describes the situation in Zhicheng township: "Between 100 and200 people died there.
They took the dead bodies to thewoods, dug a hole, lined them up, and buried them there. But one person wasstill breathing, barely...They put him on a pile of leaves in the woods...Heeventually died...But he was not buried for another five days or so. The placereeked...You know, two of the paratroopers that rescued me were themselvesinjured upon landing...Their parachutes failed to open."
Survivors line up
Beichuan High School is about twokilometers from the center of the city. The authorities have cordoned off thewhole area and set up a relief work command center at the high school.
Beichuan High School itselfsustained heavy damage as well. Not a single building has been left intact.Among the ruins, survivors line up to receive pots, pans, spoons and otherutensils.
A commander of the rescue operation tells me that only a handful of structuresare left standing in Beichuan; the rest is just a pile of rubble. "Thecity of Beichuan no longer exists," he says.
Disinfecting the area to prevent an epidemic from occurring is the main task ofthe rescue workers, I am told. The overwhelming majority of the people at thecommand center wear masks. On this – the 10th day – since the quakehit, their top priority is disease prevention...There are no longer anysurvivors being found."
Lin Di is a pseudonym to protectthe reporter and his family. He reports for RFA's Mandarin service and filedthis notebook on assignment in Sichuan.