Earthquake Zone
Finishing our trip in Du Jiang Yan, a city not far from the epicentre of the 12th May Sichuan earthquake was a humbling experience. 7,000 people died alone in this city, 4,000 of them children in six schools that collapsed during classes. We had read the statistics before coming, 70,000 dead, 5 million made homeless and about the immense response from the Chinese people but we had not expected what we saw. Walking around a series of refugee temporary housing, we talked to people who were generally very friendly and happy to see us. The camps were well set up, extremely well in fact, much better than I have experienced in my 15 years covering conflicts and disasters around the world. Nearly every room had a TV and most were showing the Olympics. Rather than what we had thought would have been a negative reaction to the money being spent in Beijing, the people here seemed overjoyed at China's success.Tonight we return home, tired but glad we embarked on this trip. Sitting in the stands at the beach volleyball in Beijing and looking down on the photographers rushing around to get the perfect sports picture I was glad I was on this journey and not with the other photographers. I guess my interest has always been people and this Olympics has had an enormous impact on the people of China. One student in Zhaoqing told me, "after these Olympics when someone asks me where I am from, I will be confident to tell them I am Chinese." This was the sentiment throughout the cities and towns we have visited. China will undoubtedly be stronger as a result.
Labels: Team A
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