Earthquake in Sichuan, an Expat's Perspective - Part 3

taken from the Earthquake Thread...

Last night I saw another mass exodus from the core of the city area as rumors flew about another "looming" seismic event. Cars lined any boulevard where the buildings were "out of reach" and people slept the night away in them, with makeshift canopies and tents hanging off the opened doors and trunks.

One especially notable oddity, was that many Chengdu drivers had congregated at the entranceway to the Jinsha Museum, just inside the 3rd Ring Road in the West end of the city. The Jinsha Ruins are a recently discovered archeological "gold-mine" in terms of artifacts from the Shu Kingdom period of some 3,000 years ago. Knowing the way the locals feel about this particular area of the city, I assume they went there to take advantage of the good karma and positive energy, which they believe emanates from the site.

As the Army, armed police forces and other emergency response teams continue their struggle in the hills of Western Sichuan, locals from Chengdu began a new aid campaign of their own as the highways to DuJiangYan and MianYang opened the tolls to free traffic flow. Both of those cities are within easy driving distance of Chengdu, with DuJiangYan a mere 20 minutes down a 6-lane highway and Mianyang an hour and half away down a 4-laner. These two cities also represent the end-pins of the disaster area, as well as the two end points for foreigners or other non-sanctioned relief workers. But that said, these two cities lost many people and aid to them is essential.

Chengdu people have begun a very spontaneous relief effort, as hundreds of cars, trucks, and buses load up and make the journey up the highways to deliver all sorts of goods to whoever they can find that needs them. It is one way in which foreigners have been able to directly contribute to the relief effort. You can drive there and actually put your donations into the hands of the people you see that require it. Maybe not a perfect plan and maybe not always equitable in its distribution, but effective nonetheless.

Canadian businessman Matt Vegh has been in Sichuan for nearly 10 years. He is also a columnist/editor for the Chengdu Daily Newsgroup and Chief Editor of the Sichuan Travel Guide Magazine.