China survivor's stadium - no Superdome
Posted: Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:49 AM
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Beijing, China
By Mark Mullen, NBC News Correspondent
MIANYANG, China – I had an eerie feeling as I approached the Mianyang Stadium where thousands of survivors of the deadly earthquake in Sichuan province have taken refuge.
From a distance, it reminded me of the New Orleans Superdome following Hurricane Katrina, when city officials opened the sports arena as a shelter of last resort, but where storm victims and their needs were tragically ignored for days.
But as I got closer and started to look around, it appeared that China had studied its own past fumbles in emergency response and noted the mistakes of others.
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| Mark Mullen/ NBC News |
| Chinese quake survivors share a meal in their makeshift tent. |
At the Mianyang Stadium, there were water stations everywhere and nobody was waiting in line. There was free food in another corner of the parking lot and volunteers handing out snacks inside. I approached a group of people to ask if there was enough food available and they laughed saying "there is too much food."
In one part of the stadium complex there was a medical tent treating physical injuries and stress. One woman was being treated for exhaustion. Two other patients were having acupuncture. And there were psychiatrists roaming the grounds doing counseling.
Even a tent school was set up for the refugee children when volunteers weren't doing organized games and activities with them.
Hard lessons learned
China hasn't always done this well. To be sure, the government here has upgraded emergency response after some hard lessons.
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| Mark Mullen/ NBC News |
| Men work on building a tent in Sichuan province. |
A Chinese official candidly admitted that the country learned a lot from the SARS epidemic when it was accused of hiding the severity of the health problem. China also received bad press over not being quick and effective enough in its response to a crippling series of snowstorms that shut down large portions of China this past winter.
And as China prepares to host the summer Olympic Games, it also knows the world is watching to see how well it can handle a crisis and if it is worthy of its bid to be considered a modern and responsive government.
Whatever the motivation, the country has generally gotten high marks for its quick and effective response from the International Red Cross (and Red Crescent). And unlike the repressive regime governing Burma, China has opened its doors to international relief and expertise.
On Thursday, the government renewed an international appeal for help in housing some of the 5 million homeless survivors.
"We need more than 3.3 million tents," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters, adding that 400,000 tents have already been delivered. "We hope and welcome international assistance in this regard. We hope the international community can give priority in providing tents," he said.
But, with an estimated 50,000 dead and 5 million homeless, the challenges are immense and despite the massive relief effort, there are complaints that the aid is not arriving fast enough.
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| Mark Mullen/ NBC News |
| A temporary home inside a tent in Sichuan province. |
In many ways, China's most difficult tests may still be ahead. It will have to undertake the most ambitious re-building campaign since 1976 when another earthquake leveled the northeastern coastal city of Tangshan and an estimated 250,000 were killed.
But today, unlike 1976, China's economy is booming. Not to mention that this communist country so often accused of not valuing human life is trying to show the world that when it wants, it can take care of its own.
