The town of Mensi after a rainstorm: Reconstruction of homes and the dawn of hope
The town of Mensi in Zixing City, Hunan Province, recently experienced a heavy rainstorm, a rare natural disaster that turned the entire town into an ocean. Many of the storefronts were swept away by the raging floodwaters, and the shopkeepers were busy cleaning up the mud while taking stock of the remaining furniture and appliances, their faces full of exhaustion and helplessness.
Loading...
Walking around the town, you can see that the school's playground is full of branches and mud washed by the flood, and from time to time there are large trucks carrying garbage in and out, busy cleaning up the debris. Although the traffic control has not been completely lifted on the afternoon of July 31, the excavation machinery has been working hard to carry out dredging work and strive to restore normal life order in the town as soon as possible.
Since July 26, several days of heavy rain have caused almost every township in Zixing City to suffer from disasters of varying degrees, especially in the eastern part of Mensi Town, which is one of the most severely affected areas. Not only are the houses of the residents of Bird's Nest Village seriously damaged, but the whereabouts of people are still unknown, and the local government is intensively conducting a search and rescue operation.
The road to survival in the face of communication disruption
Flooding caused by heavy rains has cut off communication lines, and many villagers have lost contact with the outside world. One such is Ms. Zhang, who works in Sichuan but has not been able to get in touch with her parents in her hometown of Mensi Township. Fortunately, on July 28, her family hiked to the top of a nearby hill and finally made a phone call. On the other end of the phone, there was news that the village had been out of food for a long time, and the villagers were anxiously waiting for rescue.
As relief supplies arrived, the road to the prefecture's Mensiji town was gradually cleared, and daily necessities were able to be delivered to the town in emergency vehicles for distribution to the affected villagers. In order to report his safety to the outside world, Ms. Zhang's father walked for several hours to the market town and then transferred to Zixing City.
When the rescue is in progress
As of the morning of August 1, more than 110,000 people have been affected and nearly 20,000 people have been evacuated. Despite this, 37 villages in seven townships have not been able to restore normal communications and have to rely on emergency communications equipment to stay in touch.
In Bird's Nest Village, the whereabouts of Chen Guangtian, a staff member of the power station, are still unknown, and his daughter, Ms. Chen, has been anxiously searching for her father's traces. Local authorities said the search and rescue efforts were in full swing and that no hope would be lost.
The light of hope
Although the torrential rain was fierce, the residents of the prefecture town did not give up. They help each other to face the challenges posed by the disaster. The government and all sectors of society have also extended a helping hand, and relief materials and professional rescue teams have arrived one after another, bringing new hope to the disaster area.
As of August 1, Zixing City has dispatched a total of 34 professional rescue teams, 553 professional rescuers, 4 helicopters and more than 60 search and rescue drones for search and rescue. So far, 522 people have been evacuated and 171 people have been successfully rescued.
So in the end, I would like to ask, in the face of such a large natural disaster, should we pay more attention to the impact of climate change and strengthen the awareness of disaster prevention and mitigation? What do you think about this?