【ABC】Rubble remains as China marks earthquake anniversary

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Rubble remains as China marks earthquake anniversary
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/11/2566041.htm

Stephen McDonell at Yingxiu for AM
Posted Mon May 11, 2009 8:00am AEST Updated Mon May 11, 2009 8:04pm AEST


One year on: A scene in the aftermath of the earthquake (AFP)


One year on: Temporary accomodation in Yingxiu (ABC: Robert Hill)


One year on: Site of the former Yingxiu police station (ABC: Robert Hill)


One year on: Site of the former Yingxiu primary school (ABC: Robert Hill)

China is preparing to mark the anniversary of lastyear's massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province killing tens ofthousands of people.

Tomorrow is the first anniversary of that cataclysmic event and itis bound to be a time of painful memories for the many people there wholost loved ones 12 months ago.

At the quake's epicentre of Yingxiu, the clean-up has been such ahuge task that not one house, office or shop has been rebuilt.

It remains a site of rubble and demountable accommodation.

As China prepares to mourn more than 80,000 dead, pressure remains on the Government to explain why so many schools collapsed.

According to the most recent official figures 5,335 students died. But parent groups say the real figure could be higher.

Although the reconstruction effort has been substantial, millions ofpeople remain in temporary accommodation and the lingering issue ofshoddy school construction still causes great distress for grievingparents.

The road to Yingxiu is jammed with trucks as post-earthquakereconstruction brings life back to Sichuan's worst-hit earthquake zone.

The traffic jams have been so bad on this mountain road thatvehicles are now only allowed into Yingxiu on one day and out of it onthe next.

A new freeway will offer some relief when it opens tomorrow.

When you arrive at this once-beautiful mountain town, you are stillentering a place fully engulfed in the memories of last year's powerfulearthquake, which killed between 70,000 and 87,000 people and left fivemillion homeless.

The Min River rushes through the middle of Yingxiu with great force:enough to drive the turbines of the town's small hydro power stationwhich is back up and running.

People here do not have houses but they do have electricity. Not one building here has been rebuilt.

There has been so much rubble to clear from this the epicentre oflast year's powerful earthquake that reconstruction has been put offand there are still mountains of concrete and metal to be removed.

School in ruins The collapsed ruins of the middle school dominate the landscape but local officials do not want us to go anywhere near them.

The schools remain a sensitive issue.

There are still no answers as to why so many of them fell down whennearby buildings didn't, leaving the parents of thousand of deadchildren frustrated and distressed.

Local Communist Party secretary Zhou Quanfu is the most powerful person here.

The ABC asked him when Yingxiu will be like it was before the earthquake.

"In two years ... It will be more beautiful in two years," he said.

"You can come back in two years' time and, when you do, compare thenew town with a photo of the way it used to be. It will look 10 or 15years better."

That thousands of people have stayed here to live in a town of shedssurrounded by rubble and destruction does show optimism about thefuture.

The ABC spoke to a young woman named Yingzi as she prepared her traditional ethnic Qiang costume for an event.
"Of course our life is better than before," she said.

"And it will only get better in the future. With the help of ourcommunity and our leaders, the future of Yingxiu can only improve."

But the memories will be painful tomorrow, especially for those who lost so many loved ones last year.

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