When we arrived at the city's maternity ward, we were told all the children had been sent "home". Their donation registration line was long; we made the decision move our efforts to Mianyang City where there are more victims. We traveled amongst ambulances and flashing lights. Masks protected us between the two cities from a strong chemical odor seeping through the van doors. As if it wasn't real enough, a small aftershock rocked the van.
By the time we got to Mianyang City, in the heart of Beichuan, it was 3 a.m. We went to the first maternity hospital we could find and delivered 20 boxes of infant formula. Here, many babies born in the last several days have been starving with no milk from their moms and a shortage of formula.
At the second hospital, we saw the victims from Beichuan; over 7000 were reported dead Monday. At the Mianyang Central Hospital, 5 -6 rooms had been set aside especially for Beichuan’s young victims. It was in one of these rooms I met the 4-year-old girl Shenxiaoyu, whose face is still covered with blood.
Her volunteer caretaker said Shenxiaoyu climbed out of the daycare building debris on her own. She is a brave little girl but now refuses to speak to anyone. So it is with the other young victims in this hospital. A little 6-year-old boy in the next room has nightmares and cries for help every night in his sleep. This emphasizes the need for me to begin a counseling program for PTSD for these children. Children’s Hope can train the volunteers necessary to begin a small art and play therapy for them all.
We spent the rest of the night in the square, in the middle of the government and Red Cross's temporary headquarters. Armed with donations, we left with information of the nearest orphanage - 20 new orphans live there today, brought from the Beichuan rubble.
Our volunteer driver drove us and our 40 boxes of formula to Zitong County. Director Zhang Ping met with us and was relieved to receive the formula, toys, blankets, bottled water and one big sack of cucumbers. Their orphanage is now a dangerous place, with cracking walls and electric leakage. They need more formula, cloth diapers, materials, medicine and cotton for making their own quilts and clothes for children.
On the square where we stayed, we met 10-year-old Liuliya from Beijing. When the quake hit, she came - as everyone did - frantically into the streets with her aunty. They found her father, but he went straight back into the devastation, looking for her mom. He has been gone for 24 hours and has not returned.
While Lily and I visited the Mianyang orphans, three other members of our team, Hehong, Qiyan and Maowei, joined the medical team and went to the front line - Beichuan. Their goal is to help dig through the debris and find more survivors.
Jiuzhou Stadium
Before heading back to Chengdu, I visited the Jiuzhou Stadium, where over 10,000 victims are staying. This is what I saw:
* A nice looking family with two children, ‘mom” and “dad” and “grandpa”; when I asked, I was told they were from 5 different families
* A bulletin board with handwritten notes searching for lost family members
* Tens of thousands of people living on the floor of the stadium, under covers or on the grass – some with and some without tents
* A loudspeaker, announcing formula supply, medical assistance, and missing family information
* Many young children playing on the swings and playgrounds; finding the relief they could
I was amazed with so many people living under one roof how smoothly things seem to be running - and calmly. People are sad, but are holding on in good spirit, living with thanksgiving. Many locals bring food, water, and clothes to the victims everyday. There is hope.
We will be in touch with Mianyang Red Cross before Lily and I return to Chengdu tomorrow afternoon. The need is now sterilizer, medicine of all kinds, and mostly, tents of any size for those still on the streets.
Beichuan
The word from our front line team: Hehong came in just as I am writing this. They are finding dead bodies today in Beichuan; it is extremely difficult because the rescue teams don’t have large equipment, as the roads are blocked. The latest numbers from CCTV: there were 20,000 people dead from May 12’s earthquake in Sichuan, more than 100,000 people injured, and 10,000 people saved. All of China is helping Sichuan; more volunteers and foreign donations are pouring in each day.
Here nurses rush to the aid of these infants...
Let’s pray for the thousands of victims still waiting to be rescued.
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NEWS ARTICLE
China is also now on alert for radition leaks. Here is part of an article from Reuters, UK:
By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is on precautionary alert against possible radiation leaks from the deadliest earthquake to hit the country in three decades, according to government website seen on Friday.
The disaster area is home to China's chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.
Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian convened an emergency meeting late on Monday, hours after the 7.9 magnitude tremor rocked the southwestern province of Sichuan, and activated the lowest tier of a four-stage system of ranking radiation leaks, the ministry said on its website (www.zhb.gov.cn).
President Hu Jintao flew to Mianyang on Friday, four days after the quake, which is thought to have killed more than 50,000 people, state television and the official Xinhua news agency reported, in an indication the risk was low.
Xinhua didn't say if Hu had inquired about nuclear facilities there.
But nuclear scientists were evacuated from the area as a precaution, a source with knowledge of the evacuation said.
"Everyone was evacuated. No one was left," the source, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
"Mianyang was Hu Jintao's first stop (in Sichuan), evidence of the importance he attaches to the nuclear weapons base."
The Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, also known as the Southwest Institute, in Mianyang is the primary design laboratory for Chinese nuclear weapons, according to www.globalsecurity.org.
A Western expert with knowledge of the Mianyang lab had said it was unlikely it was at serious risk.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said this week he had not heard of damage to nuclear facilities in the disaster area when asked at a regular news briefing.
The China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corp said six employees on construction sites were killed in the quake. It said on its website (www.cnecc.com) that several facilities in Sichuan were damaged, but did not mention any radiation leaks.
(Editing by Nick Macfie)
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