CHINA MARKS the first anniversary of its worst natural disaster of recent years, the Sichuan earthquake, with a series of events in the devastated province.
The earthquake, which struck at 2.28pm local time on May 12th last year, left 87,000 people dead or missing.
Chinese media will broadcast commemoration ceremonies from Yingxiu, a town at the epicentre in Wenchuan county, live from 2.20pm. “During the earthquake, our school collapsed and I was buried in the rubble. But my classmates pulled me out. Luckily my family is all fine,” said Li Sha (17), who is from Yingxiu, at a memorial event in Beijing.
She is one of 126 impoverished children aged between eight and 18 who were rescued from collapsed schools in Wenchuan and Mao counties and brought to Beijing in June last year to study at the Shuren-Ribet Private School.
Most of the children hail from the Qiang community, an indigenous people in Sichuan, 10 per cent of whom were killed in the disaster.
The children have given their class at the school a special name: ShuMeng ErMa, which translates into “Hope in Sichuan for Qiang Sons and Daughters”.
The US charity Golden Bridges has established the ShuMeng ErMa Fund to raise money for the children.
“These children suffered unspeakable loss, and I just wanted to help CCTF [the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund] and the school in their tireless efforts to meet the complex physical and emotional rebuilding needs of these very special children,” said Golden Bridges founder and executive director Holly Chang.
Another Yingxiu resident attending the school is Gao Guijia (19).
“I still clearly remember when the quake happened,” he said.
“The ground floor of our school suddenly vanished and our five-storey building became a four-storey one. We rushed out, but several students didn’t make it. Most of us survived.”
Authorities reopened Beichuan to mourners this week. The town had been closed since May 20th last year, and a new Beichuan will be built 23km (14 miles) away.
State media said 21,000 people, or two-thirds of the county seat’s population, were dead or missing following the 8.0-magnitude quake, making it the worst-hit area in the disaster.
Mourners brought flowers, incense and candles and set off firecrackers in the ruins of former bus stations, county government buildings and homes. Many of the bereaved gathered at Beichuan middle school, where more than 1,000 students were lost.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, who became a highly popular figure during the earthquake due to his visits to the disaster zone, has written a letter to the schoolchildren of Dujiangyan expressing his sympathy.
China’s rapid response to the quake was praised by international donors at the time. Since then, however, some parents of victims have been harassed for pressing local authorities to launch an investigation into the shoddy construction of schools in the area.