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Stay away to help better

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-29 13:28

Volunteers can contribute to the disaster-hit areas via other means than blindly flooding to the areas, says an article in People's Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Recently, while thanking volunteers for their contribution to the disaster relief work in the quake areas, local officials in charge of the relief work asked them to retreat from the quake areas for the time being and resume their work at a proper time in the future.

A great many volunteers went to the quake areas to aid the relief work after the Wenchuan quake. They have played an important role in the rescue work and helped the quake areas restore social order.

They are not afraid of difficulties and risks. Some of them sent the urgently needed food and drinking water to the quake areas from thousands of miles away; some put their businesses aside and joined the rescue team; some even borrowed money to get to the quake areas. These volunteers' acts have spread the mutual love between fellow countrymen, embodied the glory of patriotism and humanitarianism, and reflected the awareness of the responsibility of a citizen in a modern society.

Currently, the work in the quake areas has entered a new stage in which the focus has moved to the prevention of the diseases and to resettlement and reconstruction. How can volunteers effectively aid the quake areas in this new stage? This is a question we should ponder over.

Based on the current reality in the quake areas, volunteers had better choose other ways to show their love.

After the quake, an urgent job now is to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic. The victims are living in densely populated makeshift communities, more than 100,000 rescue and relief workers are also stationed there. As the weather there is hot and humid, the risk is high for the spread of an epidemic. Therefore, if a great many volunteers flow in from outside to the area, or even the other way, frequently, it raises the risk of an epidemic.

The quake areas are in tight supply of water and food. If volunteers now flood in, it would add great pressure to transportation, food and drinking water in the quake areas. This obviously goes against the volunteers' original purpose of showing their love.

In fact, no matter where you are, in the quake areas or outside, you can show your love. When the quake areas are not suitable for volunteers to go, we still have many other alternatives to lend our help, such as by donating materials. The quake areas now are in great need of tents. We can give our help in this regard.

The reconstruction of the quake areas is a long-term work and is estimated to last as least 10 years. The psychological rescue is a task that will last for even a longer time. In the future 10 to 20 years, volunteers will still be greatly needed to help the quake victims to rebuild their homes and cure their souls.

(China Daily 05/29/2008 page8)