Mianyang is about 110 km from Chengdu and can be reached in an hour and a half along the North Chengdu Highway, with its excellent road conditions and heavy traffic due to the lines of vehicles carrying assistance to the area.
The closest towns affected by the earthquake are Mianzhu, Deyang and Beichuan, the first two about an hour away while Beichuan is in a mountain area three hours north of Mianyang, difficult to get to and at a strong risk of hydro-geological instability due to the structural collapse of the main dam following the earthquake. Government technicians and teams of foreign experts are currently working to make the dam safe. They are expecting that the situation will still be a strong risk for another 4 or 5 days. Part of the population north of Mianyang has already been evacuated. The town of Mianyang is heavily guarded with police checkpoints for entering and leaving.
The situation is completely under the control of the authorities and there have been no episodes of violence or looting.
There are different industries in the area including plants for chemicals and the production of medicines. They have not suffered structural damage that would put the safety of the environment or the population at risk.
The headquarters of the rescue operations is in a government building in the centre of the town in an area which can only be reached by showing a pass. As soon as we arrived we were received by the main coordinator of the rescue operations appointed by the local authorities. There was also a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Peking central government and a local representative.
In the town alone there are about 8,000 dead and about 10,000 people still under the rubble. The most tragic situation is in Beichuan where about 80% of the buildings collapsed with an estimated 5,000 dead and 10,000 injured. Even in Beichuan county the number of dead and missing is in the thousands.
In total it is estimated that about 3 million people have been directly affected by the consequences of the earthquake.
Most of the evacuees have poured into the town of Mianyang. About 10,000 occupy an area inside the Juzhou Campus where the Italian Civil Defence has put up 19 tents to be used as schools for the children who have been evacuated.
Another estimated 20,000 people have been gathered in the zone around the public stadium.
Several thousands are camped in makeshift shelters around and inside the town.
There is drinking water in the town but in the county surrounding the town the water sanitation system is out of use.
There have been requests for medicines since supplies is running out. By Saturday I will have been given a list of the most urgent medicines.
At the moment there are no centres of epidemic infection. General prevention is carried out by spraying disinfectant along the roads and on rescue vehicles. Those involved in rescue operations are provided with a drink derived from traditional Chinese medicine in order to prevent infection of which they take 4 cups a day.

A more complete assessment mission has been agreed upon for the 24th of this month, with the possibility of starting to discuss the collaboration agreements with local authorities and other possible organizations that are ready to help.

Back to top

Chengdu May 20th 2008

Yesterday was precisely a week since the first devastating tremor. At 14.28 I was in the café at the hostel where I am staying trying to work on my laptop organizing our work in the earthquake area. The television was showing scenes from all over China with the flag at half-mast and the rescue teams stopped for three minutes of silence in memory of the victims. We all stood up while outside we heard an uproar of sirens and car horns. The whole town stopped in a dramatic moment of absolute stillness …people crying, praying or simply standing with their heads bowed. In those three minutes my mind flew back a week .. the broken glass, the television and furniture all over the floor, the walls moving just like in a horror film from the 80s … those few seconds of indecision and then the long never-ending race down the stairs from the 24th floor, always in doubt about whether I was doing the right thing or not.

How many had died? Maybe 30,000, maybe 50,000, but if you count those still missing the number takes on entirely different proportions.

The past week has been very hectic – contacts and meetings with the local authorities trying to fully understand the extent of the disaster in order to be able to plan a feasibility mission to the epicentre, 60 km from the town of Chengdu, without taking unnecessary risks. On Friday evening we met the delegation of the Italian Embassy at Chengdu airport and, since we are the only Italian NGO in the area, we provided assistance and logistic support. On Saturday morning the first assitance from Italy arrived at Chengdu airport and was handed over to the local authorities by our ambassador: two flights full of tents for camping and emergency kits for trauma. There were also people from the Italian civil defence on the flights who are training local people in setting up camps. Chengdu airport has become a base for sorting aid, both national and international. There are dozens of flights full of teams of Chinese volunteers who appear to be well organized in their brand new combat uniforms which clash with the light shoes they are wearing. The parking areas outside are full of waiting ambulances, trucks mainly loading basic commodities such as water, food, milk, blankets, tents.

During the week there have been dozens of aftershocks which sometimes create a lot of panic but the worst one struck yesterday evening.

While I was having dinner with people from the civil defence and embassy advisors, the waiter came over and politely asked us to go outside because a new stronger tremor was expected there shortly. We asked who could have been able to make a prediction like that and the answer was disconcerting: state television was speaking about a new tremor of more than 6 degrees on the Richter scale that was on its way with its epicenter in the city of Chengdu and asking the population to leave their homes and get to safer places. For the first few seconds I had to laugh … I wasn’t aware that seismologists could predict the degree, the epicenter and the time of an earthquake with such precision. Then I immediately got worried. Telling a city of 12 million inhabitants to leave their homes means throwing a city into panic. Straight away I tried to contact Sonam, our interpreter who was waiting for me at his hotel but the telephone lines were all down. I managed to find a taxi but the scene in front of me was apocalyptic – people had literally gone crazy trying to get away with lines of cars in flight from the city in a completely disorderly way, fights at the crossroads, entire families setting up camp in the middle of the roads and in the parks and wherever there was an open space in a city whose horizon is a spectacular line of skyscrapers. It took me an hour and a half to cover less than 10 kilometres but in the end I managed to get to the hotel where I found Sonam with all the other guests and staff outside in the road with sleeping bags and rucksacks. We had to decide what needed to be done but I realized that all my logic was going down the drain in the face of the collective irrationality. And then … well … the television said so!!! How can I tell them that it can’t be true? That you can’t predict something like that with such precision? That our building is anti-seismic, stood up well to the first tremor of 8 degrees and that there is no reason why it shouldn’t stand a weaker tremor since there is no damage, no cracks? Of course I can’t so I get my bag and pack my computer, telephones, money and passport and join the line towards our night camp – the gardens of a Confucian temple which has been transformed into a refugee camp without facilities. There are hundreds of makeshift tents, blankets stretched between the trees, the smell of urine and excrement everywhere, old people on wheelchairs … total insanity. We spent the night under a tin roof eaten alive by mosquitoes … this morning at 6.30 we disbanded and went back to the hotel but this evening we’ll have to find some type of temporary accommodation again. Basically, we don’t sleep at night and work during the day.

Today I’m planning our trip for tomorrow. Along with a colleague from the civil defence we’re going to try and reach the area north west of Chengdu where they are still digging desperately for survivors while thousands of refugees are still camped out in makeshift accommodation.

Back to top

Chengdu May 14th 2008

I arrived in Chengdu on precisely May 12th, at 12.30.
Just in time to get to the apartment on the 24th floor of the hotel and jump under the shower. The tremor came at 14.28. It was strong right from the beginning and lasted about two minutes … an eternity.
I slipped on the bathroom floor and fell while I was trying to put something on in a hurry while the lights, the television, books etc. were falling all around. I dashed out onto the emergency stairs where there was an enormous crowd of people. People were panicking and rushing down the stairs in a completely disorderly way being thrown from one side to another of the narrow staircase because the tremor wasn’t over yet. Rushing down 24 flights on foot with an earthquake along with people fleeing in panic is not something I would wish on anybody! There was a girl with a baby in her arms who was having difficulty coming down. At the beginning I took her by the hand but then seeing that people were crammed around her and there was danger of her getting hurt, I took the child and dragged the girl to the entrance of the building. There was pandemonium outside – people were in their underclothes or only in towels, others crying, the traffic was in complete chaos.
Information about the situation gradually started to come in and got worse and worse with each hour that passed.
That evening I managed to find a hostel that was only on two floors and seemed a strong and safe building. However I took everyone’s advice and armed with a blanket I went to sleep in a public park, too. But the fact remains that, even now, the aftershocks come one after another throwing everyone into a panic.
The television has been showing pictures of the areas that were hit and the enormous mobilization that is taking place throughout the area. Columns of seemingly well-organised soldiers and volunteers are still trying to reached some areas that are completely isolated. This morning two jeeps full of students and provisions set off from the hostel where I am staying to bring help to the area identified as the epicentre of the earthquake about 70 km from Chengdu.
Even last night most of the people in the town chose to sleep on the roads or in parks, some in cars, others with only blankets while some others are better organized and have tents and sleeping bags. Most of the shops are still closed and even the government offices are using all their resources to deal with the emergency. This morning there were rumours going round that drinking water would probably not be running in the next hours. People started to queue up to buy water and provisions from the few shops that were open. A lot of young people are supplying the columns of helpers with water, supplies and sleeping bags to take to the areas that have been the worst hit.
All the medical students have been called to the hospitals to help and wear red arm bands so they can be identified. They are also taking care of transporting the wounded. The Chengdu hospital doesn’t have enough stretchers and they are using doors and anything else that they can carry people on.
I immediately got in touch with the Italian Embassy and the government authorities to offer our help. We are also in touch with the European Community delegation and the International Red Cross and ready to work together with them in the post-emergency phase. For now I have found the Chinese to be very open-minded and even really surprised since they are used to doing everything themselves and perhaps not used to having a show of solidarity from outside the country.

Back to top
Back to index