After difficulties winding through mountainous terrain, we finally arrived in SuXianLing, in Chenzhou this morning.  Lack of daily basic essentials is a stark reality for the residents of SuXianLing, in comparison to their city-dwelling neighbours and what media coverage has shown.  Damage to homes and losses from agriculture is a burden entirely carried by the locals — the notion of insurance and compensation do not exist in these parts of the country.  They had no water supply, no electricity and no machines or equipment, so they totally depended on their own hands to clear the roads.  The impact of the snow disaster here is certainly not recoverable immediately, but will require the combined strength of the local residents over a long period of time to return to their previous state.  What we saw and learnt from being here has made us realise how painful and hard the coming days, months and year will be for the locals.

At 11:30 a.m. we arrived at SuXianLing Orphanage with new jackets for 150 children.  It is a Chinese New Year tradition to put on new clothes on New Year’s Eve.  The children were delighted when they saw us arriving bearing them gifts.  At the same time, local helpers were busy offloading US$10,000 worth of milk powder and diapers purchased yesterday for the orphanage.

This afternoon, we made a visit to 150 elderly homeless people in Chenzhou Rural Nursing Home. Volunteers from local churches jointed us to help distribute winter coats.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Asia, China Disaster, James Xiao. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.