In 2008, my home town Pingwu County, the center of the biggest remaining giant panda habitat in China, was struck by a deadly earthquake, the world known Wenchuan Earthquake. As a child, I was shocked by the sudden catastrophic accident dwelling to the local environment and wildlife. Ever since 2008, another two biggest earthquakes happened on 20th, April, 2013 in Yaan, and 8th, August, 2017 in Jiuzhaigou. Unfortunately, I have been through two of three in 2008 and 2017.
Firstly I want to talk about the earthquake that just happened. I'm currently working as an intern in Old Creek Reserve which is located in Laohegou, Pingwu, Mianyang, Sichuan. Because I had a cold, I was lying in my bed getting ready to sleep earlier than usual when the earthquake happened.I could feel the intense wobble that caused the bunk bed to shake. After about 4 seconds, one of the interns shouted " what's going on? ""earthquake." I replied unflappably. Then she popped up and everyone ran outside.
We gathered around talking about everything had happened. Most got shocked on account of having little or no experience in having been around during an earthquake. " OMG! I'm so freaked out!" " I'm going to talk to my family.""I'm not going to sleep today." I called my mom and she said there was no big problem, just some shock felt and people running out. "When you stay in Sichuan for long ,you’ll get used to it. It’s no big deal." One of the local staff said.
" That is true. The reaction when Sichuan people experience one earthquake is like this."
The 1st second ,"what’s going on?"
The 2nd , "shit, earthquake!"
The 3rd, "run or stay?"
The 4th, "wait a sec."
The 5th , "fu*k, it’s shaking stronger!"
The 6th , "boy, run!"
It’s kind of funny we talk about earthquake in this way, but it is true that we’ve got this positive attitude. We are just so eased. Afterwards, I opened up the weibo to search for more information about the disaster. Basically, the top topics are earthquake in Jiuzhaigou, rumors about the earthquake, optimistic Sichuan people, prayers and some touching stories that happened during the earthquake, etc. One topic says “ Sichuan people, how are you holding up?” Maybe we are used to it or maybe it’s our attitude. After all, as long as you are alive then things will not be worse.
Let’s just go back to the 12th, May, 2008. I was 13 at that time, a middle school student full of longing and curiosity. The earthquake happened in the afternoon right during the first class which was geography. I still remember the teacher talking about some seismic knowledge before the terrifying catastrophe. I felt my chair was constantly hit by something so I believed it was my friend who was behind me.
“What are you doing with my chair?
“No, I’m not.”
“Anything wrong with you?”
“What! I am reading the book.”
“Do you feel the strike?” I asked my deskmate.
“ I thought it was someone did on purpose.”
At the first minute we just talked crap like this and blame each other, thinking it was a trick. All of a sudden, a strong tremor happened and we knew it could never have been a joke. We were just stuck and couldn’t move an inch.
“squat down!” somebody shouted.
We promptly squat under the desks.
I have to say that it was silly. What happened next was we were the last group of students who got out. It was all a mess. Everyone was crying and shouting. I just remembered that I held one girl in my arm who kept saying her scares and worries. “ Your family will be fine.” Those were the only words I had to comfort her.
I was calm compared to my peers but there will always be a moment that makes me restless.When my parents were apart from me, I felt this way. My father is a high school teacher so he had to take care of his students, considering that those students got no way back home because of the damage. My mother works for government and patrolling the condition of disaster was her responsibility. After the earthquake, I lived with my grandparents and aunt in huge tent, there were approximately 100 people in it. My grandma frequently said “ when is your mom coming back?” “ I don’t know.” I was depressed. The first month I only got to see my parents once. It was hard when your family wasn’t together to face that.
You will never know what comes first, tomorrow or the horrors. Unavoidably, the secondary disaster occurred. Storm, shower and falling rocks. We saw people die. I was told one of my relatives was hit by a huge falling rock right in front of his son. What a tragedy! Last night we fell asleep calmly in tent until dawn and found we were trapped by a flood. One second, we could read a book or listen to some music at peace and the next second we escaped and screamed. A lot of things happened accidentally, swiftly, and violently. We are so vulnerable in the face of nature’s wrath.
“God is roaring again.” Old people described like this. Yeah, why is he so mad about everything? Who would be responsible for that?
I looked through the weibo right after the earthquake happened last night. It is reported there are rumors made up by immoral people. Some people even make profit from it through messages. People just act so coldly and indifferently.
I feel like I should correct people’s prejudices towards Sichuan people. We don’t want to go though a disaster like this , nobody does. It is not funny to make jokes on people who suffered so much. Some people are afraid to even visit Sichuan. Comments like “ It’s a horrible place , you’ll get killed to go there!” “The last place I wanna visit is Sichuan.” are pretty common.
Oppositely, additional rescuers rushed overnight to the quake-hit region. This time my hometown, as a vital traffic fort and key to lifeline, helps offer material assistance to tourists from Jiuzhaigou. Wherever there is love and care, there is a way-out.
Beyond all doubt, we must admit how cruel and greedy human is as we consistently squeeze nutrients from nature. We are not supposed to blame anyone since we have already been part of the evil. When you see blood and flesh，you will know the pain that it brings to a person who is still alive with no family. I’ve never been that hurt but it makes me sympathetic. Now the common phenomenon is people with numb hearts remain alive but people with sorrowful hearts experience grave loss. I am not saying people literally choose to ignore everything. Instead, I am saying we need to have a sympathetic heart to do the right things.
There is much on my mind about those earthquakes, but words fail me. I feel sad about what people think of Sichuan. I am definitely not criticizing people’s reaction. There is no good or bad. I love my hometown and want no harm to her.