Kang Bing

 

I was dozing off on a bus full of other tourists when our guide told us that we were driving past Wenchuan, a county in Sichuan province that was all but wiped out in the deadly earthquake of 2008. The mention of Wenchuan jolted me awake, and a traffic jam on that section of the road allowed me to see a new Wenchuan county.

I was traveling with a tour group to enjoy the natural scenic spots at 3,000-5,000 meters above sea level in the mountainous northwestern part of Sichuan without realizing the areas on our itinerary included the 2008 quake-hit region. By September that year, more than 69,220 people were killed and 370,000 injured in the magnitude 8 earthquake, with over 17,900 missing.

With its epicenter in Wenchuan, the deadliest earthquake in China in a century impacted people and resources across an area of 500,000 square kilometers (the size of Spain) and rendered 19.93 million people homeless.

During the next couple of days, we covered about 800 km in Wenchuan and its neighboring counties, I was impressed by the scale and modern planning and architecture of their towns, and the hundreds of multi-story houses owned by villagers, many of whom are Tibetans, Qiangs or Huis and have converted part of their houses into restaurants or homestays. The most impressive aspect of the towns is that all the buildings there were built after 2008. The only traces of the earthquake were a few collapsed buildings, which the authorities have preserved as a reminder of the tragic quake.

The new buildings were built at a feverish pace to enable the quake-affected towns and counties to recover from the disaster as soon as possible. While the central authorities poured in huge amounts of money to rebuild infrastructure in order to help the survivors overcome the impacts of the quake, half of the Communist Party of China members across the nation, including me, donated various amounts of money to bolster the post-quake relief and rebuilding efforts, with many donating up to one month's salary.

Within one month of the quake, the central government released plans to rebuild both infrastructure and people's lives. The aim was to help the affected areas so people could raise local growth to the pre-quake development level within three years and a higher level within five years.

More important, the central authorities urged 19 better-off provinces to help with the post-quake reconstruction in a few dozen seriously-hit counties. For the next three years, the affected areas turned into huge construction sites with the better-off provinces contributing funds, construction material and skilled workers to build schools, apartments and houses for the villagers. As a result, all the rebuilding, recovery and revitalization targets were reached before the deadline.

Talking with the local people, I found they became gloomy when recalling the tragic quake but lit up when talking about the rescuers and relief providers, as well as the government's rebuilding efforts. "I bet that no other government in the world could have done as much as the Chinese government has done for so many quake survivors in such a short time," the owner of my guesthouse claimed.

About 41,130 rebuilding projects were completed within three years, and by the end of 2018, a decade after the devastating quake, the GDP of the 39 worst-hit counties had risen by three times from the pre-quake period. Such an achievement would not have been possible without the government's determination to improve the lives of the quake-hit people.

For example, the opening of the 80-km-long government-built highway between Dujiangyan and Wenchuan has made it possible to reach Wenchuan and its neighboring counties in an hour from the provincial capital of Chengdu. With half of its length passing through tunnels, the highway is called "the road to prosperity" by locals.

My urge to witness firsthand how the people of Wenchuan have dealt with the aftereffects of the quake 16 years ago prevented me from being frustrated by the frequent traffic jams during my trip to the region. When millions of tourists spend time and money each year to see a new Wenchuan and its neighboring counties, the quake survivors can expect to lead a good life.

 

(Kang Bing is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.)