Russian medics check a wounded woman using a portable X-ray machine.	Japanese rescuers working in hard-hit Beichuan.	Relief materiel from the German Red Cross being loaded on a cargo plane in Berlin, May 22.

ON May 14 Premier Wen Jiabao was surprised to come across a group of foreigners in hard-hit Beichuan County of Mianyang City. “Are you tourists?” asked the premier. “No. We’re rescuers,” answered a tall man in Chinese. “Where are you from?” “The United States, Heart to Heart International.” Their brief dialogue was shown on CCTV that night.

The foreigner who spoke to the premier was Brian Robinson, chief representative in China of Alabama-based Heart to Heart International. Brian is a Doctor of Medicine and has lived in Chengdu for 10 years. He and 15 other foreign rescuers were on their way to Beichuan when they came across Premier Wen Jiabao. They had three vehicles, including an ambulance and a truck full of medical and other relief materiel.

When the quake struck on the afternoon of May 12, Brian evacuated onto the street with local citizens. He quickly contacted the Sichuan Provincial Red Cross, and Heart to Heart International became the first international rescue team to arrive at the disaster site. It was soon followed by a lavish flow of international humanitarian aid and rescue efforts from around the world.

Sharing the Pain

International sympathy and aid poured into Sichuan following the disastrous quake. U.S. President George W. Bush said in a statement on May 12: “The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the Chinese people, especially those directly affected.” Many foreign ambassadors and envoys to China came to the Chinese Foreign Ministry to extend their condolences to the quake victims, leaving messages of commiseration and support.

Soon after the earthquake, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz pledged donations of US $50 million in cash and US $10 million in relief materiel. It is the single largest foreign aid donation China has received since the earthquake. On May 16, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the UN would use the Central Emergency Response Fund to help Sichuan’s quake relief efforts.

On May 18, supplies from the U.S. military worth US $700,000 arrived in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu. This was the first assistance to arrive from foreign military sources. By May 20, 166 countries and more than 30 international organizations had expressed their sympathies to China, and the China Red Cross had received over 20 international cash donations from the U.S. Red Cross, the European Union, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Australia, to name just a few of the many donor organizations, countries and regions.

Relief supplies began to arrive in the quake-stricken areas within days. Tents, blankets, tarps, medical equipment, cooking utensils and other badly needed articles were flown in from Russia, France, Japan, the ROK, and many other countries. Chinese customs simplified their inspection procedures to allow quick entry of the foreign materiel. International relief efforts and aid have continued as more countries and international organizations have expanded their aid operations.

On the third day after the quake, the Chinese government announced its acceptance of rescue teams from Russia, Japan, the ROK and Singapore. Heavy rain and landslides in the mountainous epicenter over the previous two days had made conditions unsuitable for international rescue teams. But by May 21, 10 teams comprising 355 rescuers from seven countries and regions – Russia, Taiwan, Japan, the ROK, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Netherlands – had joined the rescue mission.

The Japanese team of 60 arrived in two groups. It was the first team from overseas to arrive in the disaster zone, and the first foreign rescuers China had accepted since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. The 60 were selected from some 4,000 standbys in Japan. Many had accrued rescue experience in other major catastrophes, such as Japan’s Kobe quake in January 1995, the Iranian earthquake of December 2003, and the tsunami that struck Indonesia in December 2004.

From a crumbled building in Qing-chuan County, the Japanese pulled out the bodies of a young mother and her daughter, who was less than three months old. The mother and her baby had spent their last moments clutching each other tightly. The Japanese rescuers, in their orange-blue field fatigues, lined up in silent tribute.

A 50-strong Russian rescue team came on the heels of 120 tons of Russian aid materiel. On the night of May 17 in Dujiangyan City, they pulled out a middle-aged woman who had survived buried in debris for 127 hours.

The 40-member ROK team worked on the site of the Hongda Chemical Plant in Yinghua Town, Shifang City. “The sight of the devastation was horrible,” said the team’s head, Kim Yong-suk. After digging out 17 bodies, they searched on in hope of miracles. “The families of the victims waited at the site, and to console them, we dug where they said their people were buried,” recalled Kim.

Near the Hongbai Town Primary School in Shifang City, a large cluster of tents indicated where the town’s rescue and relief headquarters was located. A highly experienced Singaporean team of 55 rescuers and four sniffer dogs camped on a slope not far from here. The map at the headquarters showed there were 16 local sites that required rescue efforts, so the Singaporeans were divided into four groups and each assigned a different site, with those places most likely to hold victims tackled first. The team soon recovered five bodies.

Wherever foreign rescuers worked, they paid careful respect to the victims, providing some comfort to families who waited day and night to see their loved ones, dead or alive. At the same time, the rescuers were deeply touched by the magnitude of the devastation and sorrow in the quake zone, as well as the national strength and solidarity the disaster roused through the nationwide rescue and relief operation.

Foreign Medics on the Scene

Russia supplied the first foreign field hospital to arrive in the quake zone, providing desperately needed medical assistance to Sichuan’s wounded.

The Russian hospital was made up of more than 10 huge tents set up on a middle school campus. It could facilitate five surgical operations simultaneously and handle 300 patients a day. There were 25 beds for serious cases.

Chengdu is hot and sweltering in early summer, and after 10 minutes in the tents doctors and patients alike would be soaked in sweat. The Russian medical team had carefully prepared for these conditions and brought 10 electric fans with them.

The Russian team is renowned for their ability to provide a “quick response within three hours,” and their expertise was evident throughout their stay. In one room, a Russian doctor examined a young girl’s ankle using a portable X-ray machine. The girl was very scared, and asked if she might lose her foot. Through an interpreter, the doctor assured the girl she would soon be able to run as freely as a deer.

Since May 20, the Russians have been followed by medical teams from Japan, Italy and Germany. The Japanese team arrived on May 20 with five tons of medical equipment, including portable X-ray machines and blood testers.

Three days later, an Italian field hospital reached Chengdu, fully equipped for complicated surgical procedures, and set up in Xiaode Town, Mianzhu City. It provided medical services to earthquake survivors and training to local medical workers so they could continue to use the medical facilities after the Italians depart. Italy was among the first group of countries to pledge relief aid to China, and had provided €1 million in cash and €1.5 million in supplies before the field hospital arrived.

On May 26, a German field hospital comprising 20 tents and 120 beds also went into service in Dujiangyan City. The €1.2-million hospital is equipped to provide medical services for a community of 250,000 people. A 12-member German Red Cross team arrived with the hospital to provide medical and training services.

Coming Out of Isolation

Providing and obtaining international aid is standard practice following major disasters, but this was not the case in China 32 years ago, when an earthquake shattered the industrial city of Tangshan, in the country’s north. The official death toll for the 1976 quake was 240,000, though many believe the true figure was much higher. Given the political atmosphere of that time, the Chinese government declined all international aid offers and decided on “self-reliance.” But due to the country’s backward economic and technical conditions at the time, rescue efforts were far from timely or efficient.

“China would not accept international aid 32 years ago because it was the Cold War period,” said Qian Gang, author of the book Tangshan Earthquake. “Three decades on, as China opens to the outside world, its way of thinking and mentality has changed considerably.”

In fact, changes could be detected just four years after the Tangshan earthquake, shortly after China initiated its reform and opening-up policy. In 1980 China was badly hit by concurrent flood and drought disasters. The Chinese government carefully conveyed the message that it would accept international aid offers. The Western media commented at the time: “This is the first time the Chinese government has asked for international aid in the past 30 years,” and, “China has finally reached out for helping hands to cope with disasters.”

“China’s unprecedented open stance on accepting rescue and relief from the international community [for the Sichuan earthquake] reflects its embrace of the international principle that life is the foremost priority,” said Jia Qingguo, vice president of the School of International Studies at Peking University.

China has close working relations with foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, regional organizations and relevant UN departments in international rescue cooperation. Previously, China has sent personnel to participate in international rescue operations following disasters in Algeria, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia, and has also provided humanitarian aid and contributed to rescue operations in countries such as Algeria and Turkey.

China’s active involvement in international rescue and relief missions indicates the progress of the country’s reform and opening-up, while its acceptance of international rescuers in Sichuan reflects the great strides that have been made in advancing the country’s own emergency response system.