Yushu Earthquake: An Untold Story

5/26/2010

I am a school teacher and came to Xining, the capital of Qinhai Province, yesterday. I have witnessed the earthquake in Yushu.

At 5 am of May 14, while I was asleep, my bed started to shake, and then it shook so heavily that it almost threw me to the floor. I was startled. What was going on? Could this be an earthquake? I waited for a while and it became quiet. It was still dark out and no human voices or dogs barking could be heard. I fell asleep again because I was so tired. In my heart, I knew something was not right. I got up, put on my clothes and had a few puffs of my cigarette. Suddenly I was thrown onto the floor by the earthquake. I jumped up to open the door but could not. I rushed to the window, broke the window pane with a hammer and jumped into the yard. I could not see anything because of the thick dust.

Earthquake in Yushu—not like the reporting on TV

I am giving my first hand account of what happened during the earthquake. First of all, I want to clarify that the earthquake was not like what was reported on TV: It is not true that very few people died; it is not true that they were working hard to dig out the victims; it is not true that people had plenty of food and water; it is not true that they worked till midnight to save the victims. They are telling lies and the rescue operation only started slowly after Premier Wen Jiabao went there.
Many people were buried when the earthquake hit Yushu. Unlike the reporting on TV, only 1/3 of houses collapsed instead of 85%. But all the mud houses collapsed. What appeared on TV were houses in the center of the city.

At least 3,000 people died, that was what I saw. Many families were buried entirely and no one paid any attention to those people and no one recorded that either. I had witnessed at least 3,000 victims. Not everything in the report was true; some were made up stories.

No Food, No Water, No Help

When the earthquake hit, the three story dorm totally collapsed and all the students were buried. We started to dig them out but could not move the concrete rubble. We found the rescue team but they did not come until afternoon. When they did arrive, they only came with one forklift truck and did nothing. After sundown, not a single person was rescued.

Our neighboring families were buried, but we did not have time to help them. For two days, we were hurrying to dig out our own relatives, with hand shovels and wooden poles. On TV, they said that more than 6,000 people were saved. But the rescue team dug out very few people, mostly we dug out our relatives.

We put the victims on the horse race track. Because we used up all the medical supplies from school, we put the victims together. Some of them, we put on the trucks and covered them with quilts. At night, we found some wood pieces from the collapsed houses and burned them to keep warm.

Rescue Team Put on a Show

At 2:00am I rode my motorcycle back to town. In the city I saw the rescue team still working to save people, but I was angry at the fact that only a few people were working, while a lot of rescue team members spent their time chatting and laughing. The locals were telling me, “They were on the building since noon hour. And now it is night and nothing has changed.” They are not saving people but doing a show of saving people.

In addition, many statements made were false. One reporter was telling a lie right in front of us: She said that now it is 2:00am and the rescue team is still working on saving people. Another reporter from a different TV station said that now it is 3am and the rescue team is still working tirelessly to save people. That is a big fat lie! The so-called rescue team, a total less than 10 people, has been on top of a building since lunch hour and has not moved a single stone. The victims under the building were calling for help when suddenly a fire started from inside the building and then was followed by silence. The rescue team did not even try to extinguish the fire!

They were here talking about saving people and did not go anywhere else. My students were all under the collapsed building, but they did not go there. However they said that they went. Honestly, we did not have any rescue team at all.

Plenty of Food and Water for the Rescue Teams but not for the Victims

On May 15, the rescue team did not save any victims. I saw them standing on the same building. At other places, only the locals were saving their relatives or friends. When I rode my motorcycle around the city to look for food, water, tents and quilts, I asked many police for these items. But the police officers all said they had nothing to give away. By then, it was almost noon and the roads were filled with vehicles from adjacent counties. The cars and trucks were loaded with food, tents etc,. Unfortunately, they were all for private usage.

The rescue team stationed above the race track had plenty of food and water. The people from the expedition team, or other rescue teams from certain units, also stayed at the stadium and had plenty food and water. Many families here did not have a tent to sleep in. After I came back from scouting, I found many families were putting up tents. I asked them where they got their tents. They said that they robbed others. By then the street was blocked with vehicles and all the goods on the pickups and trucks were being taken.

Later on, I rode the motorcycle around, but I did not see any more trucks with goods because of the traffic jam. Nothing was moving.

Looking for Food from a Heap of Rubble

In the afternoon, we dug out some food from a heap of rubble. Some people even robbed the supermarket and small merchants from the city. A friend of mine from Xining called and asked me about the earthquake. I told him that we had nothing to eat. However, food was a small matter. More serious, was the lack of drinking water. Everyone was very thirsty including the patients. Some people got polluted river water and boiled it for drinking after the water was somewhat settled. We drank very little and gave most of the water to the patients.

The media said that food was not a problem. And that was a lie. We did not see food or water. Some people were lucky enough to rob a truck but most of us had nothing. All we had was what we dug out from the rubble.

The presence of Special Police Forces

At night, there were many special police officers present to direct traffic. The traffic started to move at 12:00pm but the whole day was wasted due to the traffic jams. Because of that, no victims had been rescued.

My students were still under a building. And many people were under collapsed buildings. When I went to the intersection again, I saw some places that had military units and rescue teams, but very few people. The team that was on top of a building was asked to get off by police declaring that a high level official was coming. Soon the roads were cleared. An hour later, Premier Wen Jiabao came. At that point the rescue operation started to move slowly.

The Coming of Premier Wen Jiabao

On May 16, the third day after the earthquake, at 7:00am the special police force was there to watch the roads and make sure no more traffic jams developed. But where were they yesterday when the traffic jam blocked the roads for an entire day? They only showed up because the the premier had arrived.

My students have been buried for two days. But we are too weak to help and so are many of their parents.

I won't show the pictures and the video. I don't want to lose my job. Who knows, they may even put me in jail. My family needs me now more than ever.