Hope Withstands the Xinjiang Earthquake

Friday, March 7, 2014

By World Vision China Communcations team

"I felt so helpless," said Miri, a six-year-old girl who lives in a remote village of Yutian County, the county worst-hit by a recent earthquake in Xinjiang, with a sigh.

In a recent assessment on March 6, World Vision met Miri and her family. She is among the 455,000 people affected by the 7.3 magnitude earthquake, which rocked Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in western China on February 12.  

Miri lives with her grandparents. “I was so frightened and didn’t know what to do when the quake hit,” Miri recalled in fear. 

World Vision staff gave her a child friendly kit and a disaster safety leaflet. They carefully explained what the leaflet was about and Miri listened with keen interest. Fortunately, much of the information is in cartoon pictures for Little Miri cannot read yet. She is too young to go to school.

A total of 653 people from 183 families live in Miri's village. The earthquake damaged the houses of 58 families. They were left homeless and forced to live in temporary shelter tents. 

Mr Aiyimuhan is a herder and has around 15 sheep. He lives in Yutian County too, which is right next to the Taklamakan Desert. Almost 250 days of the year, the sand blows in from the desert. There is little grassland to feed the herds.  

The quake has made their situation even worse.

They are now staying in a tent with very few possessions with them: three quilts, a mattress, a tea pot, and a bowl. Some days ago, it snowed and they felt the cold to their core.

 

"I wish we had a safe house, it is so cold in this tent. I cannot cook proper meals for the family, I worry about the health of my husband," Mrs. Aiyimuhan said with a shiver. The family will need money and building materials to build a new quake resistant house.

The village leader told World Vision that most of the collapsed houses were made of mud brick. In contrast, most of the newly built quake resistant houses were able to withstand the impact of the quake tremors. The government started a new housing programme around five years ago to help families build quake resistant houses.  

By the end of February, as a result of the earthquake:

  • More than 85,600 people had to relocate
  • Nearly 200,000 houses were damaged, including more than 68,000 which collapsed
  • More than 10,000 livestock died
  • Nearly 500 bridges were damaged
  • More than 100 cases of highway landslides were reported

“It is our keen wish that the lives of local communities will resume soon. Yet, disaster prevention and disaster risk reduction work is also crucial to minimise the casualties when a disaster occurs. We will continue to work with our counterparts and local communities in the entire rehabilitation process,” said Meimei Leung, Head of Humanitarian Emergency Affairs Department of World Vision China.