ACT Alliance

A happy sip of water in Yushu.
Photo: ACT

The relief workers are the real heroes of China these days. In  the remote and earthquake hit Yushu county, the temperatures are low and the air is thin, giving people altitude sickness. Transport difficulties on snowy and icy roads are extreme. Many of them have spent days to arrive at the epicenter. The relief workers are not there for themselves. In her diary, a relief worker from Amity, Ms. Tang Chuanfang, is telling:

“Suddenly, I was attracted by a father, sitting on a stone stool at the distribution point holding his daughter tightly in his arms. He was waiting. Meanwhile, the mother was helping unload the relief material. The father kept pulling his coat to give more warmth to the girl who crouched in his arms and was sleeping warmly.

“When I approached them with light steps, the girl was woken. “Daddy,” she murmured with fear and timidity and clung to her father more tightly. The father touched her head, and whispered something in Tibetan.

“Five minutes later, the snow stopped and the distribution started. The father and his daughter moved to a place in the sunshine. Taking a bottle of water from the mother, he opened it quickly, poured some into the lid, and fed his daughter before taking a small sip himself. A smile came over the daughter’s face. Her dad smiled back. They had not had any water as clean as this for days. This moving scene has become embedded in my mind.”