He can find many reasons for his wrong decisions in this disaster: there has never been a mudslide here before, he is eager to rescue his mother, and no one expected such serious consequences... But invisibly, he has already borne the feeling of regret brought to him by those 8 lives.
Person of the Day ID: meirirenwu
Text / Wei Shijie Editor / Chu Ming
In order to rescue zhou aixiang, who was buried, dozens of villagers from Zuta Village in Ningxiang, Hunan Province, gathered in front of the Zhou family's house, which had been swept away by a landslide, and removed the wood and bricks piled up on the ruins with their bare hands. The sun came out from behind the clouds, causing the villagers to misjudge that the weather had turned better.
At the entrance of the village, some onlookers pointed at the mountain and shouted: The mountain has moved!
But the people who gathered at the bottom of the mountain to rescue them did not hear.
A few minutes later, behind the Zhou family's house, a large piece of the mountain fell off the mother body, making a violent sound like the breaking of dead branches, and the people under the mountain instinctively pulled their legs and ran. But not everyone outperformed the death catch-up. The mudslide tumbled down, smashing into the ground, into the fields, into the ponds, and engulfed the scattered crowds.
After Zhou Aixiang, 8 lives added the death toll in this mudslide.
The original appearance of the village before the mudslide Map / Source Network
Villages after mudslides Map /Source Network
<h1> Guilt for 8 lives</h1>
On the day of Zhou Aixiang's burial, Granddaughter Zeyi was in the hospital for follow-up treatment. An egg-sized pustule bulged from the instep of her foot, which had only scratched a little skin when it was hit by a mudslide, but as the days passed, the wound became more and more swollen, itchy and painful.
The 13-year-old did not shed tears from the pain of a foot injury. Like her, 18 others who escaped from the mudslide were all injured. The most serious one has not yet left the intensive care unit.
But when she saw the overwhelming accusations against her grandmother in online comments on her mobile phone, she cried angrily — because a village cadre said in an interview with the media that in the case of the entire village having been evacuated to the township to avoid difficulties, 59-year-old Zhou Aixiang "did not listen to dissuasion" and "ventured home" and was eventually buried - this became the attack point of some netizens who "deserved" and "also suffered 8 lives".
"He's talking nonsense! News scribble! Zhou Aixiang's son Wang Jian could not hide his anger, "Until my mother was buried, our whole village lived in our own homes, and there was no 'township to avoid difficulties'!" This was later confirmed by the whole village.
Wang Jian rarely went out so far, and he was afraid of hearing some discussion. Sometimes he was walking on the road, and people not far away would point out in small voices: "Look, the 8 people who died were to save his mother." ”
When bored, he would smoke one cigarette after another. He can find many reasons for his wrong decisions in this disaster: there has never been a mudslide here before, he is eager to rescue his mother, and no one expected such serious consequences... But invisibly, he has already borne the feeling of regret brought to him by those 8 lives.
In the 24 hours before the mudslide, the average rainfall in Ningxiang reached 218.9 mm. A visual representation of this figure is that the houses built on the mountainside of Zuta Village have been flooded half a story high on the evening of June 30, and the "basement is completely flooded". Village cadres visited every household on the same day, reminding people to pay attention to safety, "if the rain is too strong, leave the house."
Villagers signaled the water level at home that had been flooded on June 30 due to heavy rainfall. Photo / Wei Shijie
At night, heavy rain damaged the power system, and the entire village of Zuta lost power. There is no signal for mobile and Unicom, and only a very small number of telecom elderly machines have weak signals to contact the outside world.
Zuta Village is 80 kilometers away from the county seat of Ningxiang, and at that time, Ningxiang was experiencing the most serious natural disaster in the county since there were hydrological and meteorological records due to heavy rainfall. Due to the many landslides on the mountain road, the large excavator did not enter the scene of the accident until the third day after the disaster.
Unable to obtain outside help, in the face of Zhou Aixiang's burial, several villagers spontaneously formed a rescue team.
<h1>"A lifetime of hard work"</h1>
After entering Zuta Village, follow the mountain road all the way up until the road is isolated by Wangjiawan, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides, that is, it has entered the deepest part of Zuta Village. The ancestors of Wangjiawan have lived on the mountain for more than 100 years. The vast majority of the 21 people who live here today are left-behind elderly people, many of whom have never left their villages in their entire lives.
The young people are out of here. If he had not sent his daughter to his mother for the summer, Wang Jian would have been working outside at this time.
In the early morning of July 1, the mountain facing zhou Aixiang's house was eroded by heavy overnight rains and a small landslide occurred. Mud poured into the front of Zhou Aixiang's house, blocking the ditch.
Wang Jian received a phone call from Wang Like, a cadre of the university student village, who said that the earthen house in Wangjiawan was at risk of collapse during the torrential rain in Ningxiang, and he hoped that Wang Jian would help transfer the elderly in the village. Wang Jian agreed. After breakfast, he first sent a pair of children to his mother-in-law's house in a neighboring village, and then to his uncle's house at the mouth of the village. Then, from house to house, he called the neighbors and elderly people to the highway in front of the door to assemble for a meeting.
Whether the old man realized the "danger" in Wang Jian's mouth, after 20 minutes, they encouraged each other to return to their own building. The same is true of Zhou Aixiang. She couldn't wait for lunch at a relative's house, so she hurried home, thinking that the new building she had built at home "don't be flooded by the rain."
Zhou Aixiang, 59 years old this year, is a "love to pay attention" woman, on weekdays, she will wear high heels, every day to clean the home.
Wang Jian had persuaded Zhou Aixiang to leave many times, but she "went in and out of the house dozens of times", did not take anything, just sat still, and kept chanting: "This house is the painstaking effort of my father and you all my life, but I can't let it collapse." In 2014, the Wang family built a new house, for which Wang Jian's 68-year-old father is still working odd jobs in Changsha.
Zhou Aixiang urged Wang Jian to go to the well at the mouth of the village to wash vegetables, and she wanted to make a lunch at her home. Wang Jian had no choice but to do so. Just as he arrived at the well, he heard a loud noise, and when he looked back, his house had been washed away by the mudslide of the back hill.
Before Wang Jian could scream, he slumped on the ground.
<h1>To save or not to save</h1>
He Wanglin, who lived 300 meters away, saw Zhou Aixiang's house collapse at almost the same time. He immediately put down the work in his hand and trotted all the way to Zhou's house, and after confirming that Zhou Aixiang was buried, he ran all the way out and mobilized dozens of villagers along the line to come to help.
4 kilometers away, 63-year-old Yan Guosheng was fetching water at this time, when he heard a person passing by his house say that there was a house on the mountain that had fallen, and he put down the bucket and ran up the mountain. The same situation is also the 59-year-old Yan Weilian, who lives on the mountainside of the fork in the road and rushed out of the house as soon as she heard the news. She and Zhou Aixiang are small, and the two of them married from a neighboring village to Zuta Village together after they became adults, and they had a friendship for decades. The day before, they were sitting together playing cards.
Yan Xingqiang held the portrait of his father Yan Guosheng. Photo / Wei Shijie
Half an hour later, Wu Huarong, who opened a grocery store at the mouth of the village, received a call from Wu Guoqiang, deputy secretary of the party branch of Zuta Village, and learned the news that Zhou Aixiang was buried. At this time, his hair Xiao Yan Cunliang and Jiang Yongliang were sitting in his shop playing cards. Hearing the news, the 3 people immediately decided to go up the mountain together to help rescue. They live at the foot of the mountain, and the place of departure is more than 10 kilometers away from Zhou Aixiang's house. The way up the hill was blocked by multiple landslides, and they had to throw off their motorcycles and walk on foot.
When Yang Mingyuan, the secretary of the village party, turned with Wu Huarong and his party on the road, when they arrived at Wangjiawan, there were already dozens of people watching the scene, but no one took action. "The preliminary judgment that Zhou Aixiang is unlikely to survive", Yang Mingyuan and Wu Guoqiang inspected the scene, suggested that everyone retreat, "the situation is stable and then rescued."
Some people in the crowd objected, "Those who were buried in the mudslide for a few days survived, how long has it been since they were saved?" ”
Opposition is growing.
Soon after, the rain stopped. The sun was peeking out of the thick clouds and it was clear. This makes some people think that the weather is getting better and there is no risk.
Afterwards, those present could not recall who "led the way inwards", but only remembered that people followed sparsely, and a dozen people began to move wood and bricks with their bare hands in front of the ruins of Zhou Aixiang's house.
Wu Guoqiang saw that the villagers were determined to rescue, so he also followed up and participated in the rescue. Yang Mingyuan remained at the entrance to Wangjiawan to evacuate crowds of onlookers and prevent women and children from entering.
Zhou Aixiang was buried, so that the elderly in the village finally believed in the existence of risks and came to the village entrance to take refuge. But there are also risky ones. An old man in his 90s insisted on going home to get his passbook, and was carried out by his son in his 50s. Wang Chuqin, 77, is also reluctant to leave, living next door to Zhou Aixiang and insisting on staying at the scene to help identify and analyze the location where Zhou Aixiang may have been buried. He probably did not expect that after more than 20 minutes, he would become the oldest victim on the scene.
A villager stands in front of his collapsed house. Photo / Wei Shijie
<h1>"Go fast, the landslide has landslideed!" </h1>
In the crowd, someone realized the risk of rescue.
Among the villagers watching at the entrance, some saw that the crack in the mountain was "still collapsing in the mud" and shouted "The mountain is moving!" You're coming back!" "But the rescue office was about 300 meters away, and the rescuers didn't hear the shouts. Onlookers began to talk, "Dig something now, dig later."
He Wanglin, who participated in the rescue, may also be aware of the danger. When he ran to the road for a break, he sternly blocked the women and children who were about to enter. Wang Zeyi was one of them, and when she tried to go forward and join the rescue team to rescue her grandmother, she was scolded by the adults. She stood still, staring intently at someone in the rescue crowd in the distance who was wearing the same color clothes as her father.
One person involved in the rescue said That Mr. Wu had stopped everyone from continuing to search for Zhou Aixiang on the grounds that he had "seen the mountain move." But when everyone fixed their eyes on the back mountain, "the mountain did not move." So people continued.
Yan Weilian was the first person at the rescue scene to realize the danger. She saw that "the mountain moved", and instead of immediately escaping, she stood in place and shouted loudly, "Go fast, the landslide!" ”
She herself did not "run to win".
Behind her, a large mass of the mountain fell off the mother's body, making a violent sound of dead branches breaking, and people instinctively pulled their legs and ran.
Boulders rolling down in a mudslide. Photo / Wei Shijie
Huge mudslides tumbled down and smashed into the ground, fields, and ponds. He Wanglin was sitting on the side of the road smoking a cigarette at this time, and was suddenly buried by the mud that came down from the top of his head. Wang Chuqin, who was running, was hit by a falling stone on the mountain and hit his temple, fell into the mudslide, and quickly disappeared. Li Guojun, 56, who was entangled in wires when he was swept away by a mudslide, refused help from others: "You go fast, it is important to escape!" ”
Wang Jian reacted quickly and ran early, and he saw his daughter Standing in the middle of the road in the distance, so he rushed over to save her. "I thought Dad was dead. I don't want to run away either. Wang Zeyi recalled the state of mind at that time, she saw the person wearing the same color clothes as her father buried by the mudslide, thinking that "daddy is dead." Just as she was getting gray, Dad appeared, grabbed her hand and said, "Run." The father and daughter didn't run far before the mudslide that had caught up washed them into a pond a hundred meters away.
Finally, they pulled the corn stalks by the pond ashore. Wang Zeyi did not cry, but asked: "Dad, are we dead?" ”
Shortly after landing ashore, Wang Jian's father and daughter were pleasantly surprised to find that Wang Jian's younger son had been washed away by a mudslide on the bridge at the entrance of Wangjiawan. Seeing his sister's knee bleeding, 3-year-old Wang Yang (pseudonym) burst into tears, "Sister, is your leg broken?" ”
Wang Jian, who injured his left foot, was beating the anti-inflammatory hanging bottle. Photo / Wei Shijie
<h1>"All those who die are good people"</h1>
Remains have been found one after another. As night fell, the river on the mountain was crowded. Due to the water and electricity cuts, people had to transport the found remains to the river for cleaning. Villagers lit candles by the river to dress up the bodies and mourn the lives that had been lost. Many of the closest relatives who could not find their remains slept on the ground in Wangjiawan.
Zhou Aixiang's body was not found until the afternoon of the next day after the incident. The family's dog "Black Ball" miraculously appeared in front of the ruins of the house, and the Wang family recalled that the "Black Ball" was gone before the disaster. It has been noted that the "black ball" always stays in one place to bark. Decided to dig in place where it barked, and soon found the body of Zhou Aixiang.
The last to be discovered was Li Guojun, whose wife was at the scene for 3 days.
Zhou Yinghui, wife of the victim Li Guojun, and his big yellow dog. Photo / Wei Shijie
The unanimous evaluation of the victims in the village is that "those who die are good people" - "all the deaths that save people on the front line", and the villagers said excitedly, "Those who are farther away can run and win (drop)." ”
Almost all of the victims were the village's notoriously warm-hearted people. There are dedicated rangers, former village cadres, democratically elected rescue team members, and good old men who never refuse any request.
Villagers who survived this rescue. Graph / Source Network
Rescuer Yan Cunliang's own building was swept away by a landslide in 2014. "At that time, the whole village also had money to contribute money and made a strong contribution." This time, he did not hesitate to rush to the front line, just to "repay this favor."
When he came ashore, he disappeared below his left leg and knee, and during the 2 hours he waited for rescue, he did not feel the slightest pain. His left leg was amputated at a high level and his pelvic bone was split by 5 cm. The wound on his right hand was infected with sediment, he underwent 6 surgeries, and now a walnut-sized hole bulged on the back of his hand. But he said he "didn't regret it."
"I'm still alive, but my two brothers..." he said in a weak voice, accidentally choking up, tears bursting out. His hair, Wu Huarong and Jiang Yongliang, were both killed in this disaster.
Yan Cunliang recalled his brothers Wu Huarong and Jiang Chengliang who were killed in his hospital bed, and could not help but shed tears. Photo / Wei Shijie
Many of those killed were experiencing the small but full joys of life. Li Guojun just passed his 56th birthday, Yan Guosheng added a new grandson in April this year, and Wu Huarong's 8-year-old son, who won the first place in the class in the recent final exam, promised that as a reward, he would take his son to the county to eat a KFC meal.
"We originally felt that the good life had just begun." Lu Jiao sat at home and recalled that because her father-in-law was suffering from cancer, she and her husband Wu Huarong owed a foreign debt of more than 100,000 yuan. This year, they opened a grocery store at the mouth of Zuta Village, which is doing well, and they estimate that in a year or so, they will be able to pay off the remaining debts.
"He's gone, and I think everything is broken." This 29-year-old woman is the old man in the family, and after knowing Wu Huarong at the age of 17, she has been pampered and pampered by him, and has never done any heavy work.
His wife, Lu Jiao, stood in front of Wu Huarong's portrait. Photo / Wei Shijie
On the day of the cremation, she held her husband's hand and felt the same as usual. On the way back, my son, who had never shown much sadness about his father's departure, finally cried and shouted, "Daddy, you come back, come home with me." ”
<h1>"Now when it rains, I'm scared." </h1>
On the 12th day after his grandmother's death, Wang Zeyi went to the scene of the incident to commemorate the fact that the ruins of his house had been cleared away, and Wangjiawan had become a yellow mud field. The poles at the mouth of the village were broken into two pieces and straddled the edge of the field. Boulders tumbling down from the mountain were scattered in the fields like chess pieces, as tall as a man.
Wangjiawan is no longer the idyllic landscape it once was. The only verdant thing is the still dense woods on the back hill, but several huge scars of the landslide are barely exposed, like eye-catching wounds.
Today's Wang Jia Wan Photo / Wei Shijie
As the closest person to her grandmother in the family, Wang Zeyi has never dared to return to the scene where she took the lives of her relatives. Every night after the incident, she was tormented by nightmares. Her parents didn't even have time to show too much sadness, so they needed to concentrate on building a house in the future.
They can choose to live in the township, where there is a new love house built by the government for poverty alleviation, and a family of four can get a 50 square meter space. But most villagers want to be able to build another house and receive appropriate subsidies.
"It's beautiful and we can't help but leave it." Wang Zeyi recalled that when her grandmother was alive, they often climbed the mountain behind their house in the early morning, the mountain was quiet, the air was fresh, and from a high place overlooking Wangjiawan, "everyone's seedlings can be planted neatly."
Whether Wangjiawan can restore the original appearance of the village is still unknown.
In the afternoon, a dragonfly appeared in the low sky, and the sky was low. "Let's hurry up," Wang Zeyi showed a nervous look, urging the people around him, "Now when it rains, I am afraid."
List of victims of Wangjiawan in Ningxiang on July 1:
Zhou Aixiang, female, 59 years old
Wang Chuqin, male, 77 years old
Li Guojun, male, 56 years old
He Wanglin, male, 50 years old
Zhou Lisheng, male, 54 years old
Yan Guosheng, male, 63 years old
Yan Weilian, female, 59 years old
Wu Huarong, male, 35 years old
Jiang Chengliang, male, 48 years old
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