Foreign and Military Affairs
From Sichuan to Haiti, rescuer lends a hand
By Huang Zhiling (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-18 07:50
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MIANYANG, Sichuan: Chen Yan has been restless since he learned a 7.3-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc in Haiti.
"How to get to the country is all he can talk about," said his wife Peng Lu.
Chen, deputy chief of the Sichuan provincial emergency volunteer team, received a text message from the Beijing-based China Earthquake Network Center in the wee hours of Jan 13 Beijing time.
"I didn't take it seriously and thought the quake might have taken place in the sea," said the thin but tall and robust man.
"I have been determined to go there ever since then," said the 38-year-old.
He collected his tent, safety cap, mask and emergency kits and booked an air ticket for Beijing on the afternoon of Jan 13 with the intention of going with the National Earthquake Disaster Relief Team.
After he hurried to the airport in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, from Anxian, a county in northern Sichuan where his mother-in-law lives, he was told by the National Earthquake Disaster Relief Team that he could not go with them because he was not on its payroll.
"That night I called a famous Beijing-based foundation which provides relief for people in need asking whether it could help me go to Haiti. As China has not established diplomatic relations with Haiti, members of the foundation cannot go to Haiti. Neither could it help me go there," Chen said.
On the afternoon of Jan 14, members of the National Earthquake Disaster Relief Team arrived in Haiti. One member called Chen and told him the country was in a deplorable condition.
"He told me most of the houses in Port-au-Prince had collapsed. Although all the peacekeepers were involved in the rescue operation, it proved ineffective because of the lack of equipment. Only one hospital still operated and people were scared," Chen said.
A representative office of a Haitian company in Beijing promised to help Chen get a visa for the United States. "Once I arrive in New York, I will try to secure a visa for Haiti from the Haitian Embassy in the United States. As it will take some 20 hours to arrive in Haiti via the United States, I will miss the best time to save people from the rubble. But as a man from Sichuan, I must go there," Chen said excitedly.
His eagerness to go to Haiti has much to do with his nickname "A man for all disasters," said Ou Yang, general manager of a distribution firm in Chengdu where Chen serves as a sales manager.
A native of Suining in Sichuan, Chen shot to fame for his amazing relief efforts following several devastating disasters.
On the night of the quake in Sichuan on May 12, 2008, Chen drove dozens of victims in Dujiangyan to stay with their friends and relatives in Chengdu, while from May 13 he worked tirelessly with the National Earthquake Disaster Relief Team to clear rubble at Dongqi High School in Hanwang, Sichuan.
During the 80 hours it took to save 29 students from the wreckage, he slept only five hours. There Chen was hailed a hero and was even dubbed by one disaster relief team member as a "daredevil who always arrived in dangerous spots before our members".
Apart from being one of the first volunteers to arrive in the badly damaged city of Dujiangyan in Sichuan after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, Chen, a former armed policeman who had worked in the Tibet autonomous region, went alone to Lijiang in Yunnan province after a 7.0-magnitude quake rocked the ancient town in February 1996.
He was also part of a rescue team that saved stranded flood victims in Gong'an county, Hubei province, in the summer of 1998.
After Yao'an county in Yunnan province was jolted by a 6.0-magnitude earthquake on July 9 last year, Chen led members of the Sichuan provincial emergency volunteer team to the site immediately.
Asked why he had come to the rescue on so many occasions, he replied: "Because I am alive."
His desire to go to Haiti also stems from his status as a Sichuan man, Chen said.
"A dozen overseas rescue and medical teams helped Sichuan in the earthquake in 2008, and countless people in the world donated money and materials to us. We Sichuan people must repay their kindness by participating in the earthquake relief in Haiti," he said.
Admitting he has missed the best time for rescue - 72 hours after the quake - Chen wishes to help Haitian people get more relief materials from China after arriving in Haiti.
"It is more convincing for me to ask NGOs to donate when I am in Haiti and tell them how serious the disaster is than if I am in Sichuan," he said.
