Those lucky enough to survive the disaster lost all but the clothes on their backs. Within 48 hours of the quake, the majority had been placed in temporary tent accommodation, where they received drinking water, hot food and medical attention. Quake orphans were taken to bigger cities like Beijing for rehabilitation courses, and a number of students were transferred to schools in other regions to avoid major disruptions to their studies.

The state also kept an eye on the rescuers working hard and long in low temperatures at high altitude. Any displaying symptoms of altitude sickness were transported out of the region, and all volunteers were warned of the health risks involved in the work they were about to throw themselves into.

Uniting as One

Sympathy and support came from every corner of China after the news of the Yushu earthquake. Although safety concerns born of worries that excessive human influx would impede the work of professional rescue crews made Qinghai Province urge volunteers to hold off, hundreds nonetheless made their way to Yushu, either individually or as members of non-governmental organizations. Among them were rescue workers and survivors of both the Wenchuan and the 1976 Tangshan earthquakes. Volunteers also came from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The story of 46-year-old truck driver Wong Fook Wing from Hong Kong who had been working as a volunteer at a Yushu orphanage is well known in the SAR and throughout the mainland. He fled the building when the quake hit, but dashed back when he realized that there were still teachers and children inside. He was killed in a aftershock.

Wong's is just one example of the many heroic deeds of ordinary people. Six farmers from Maoxian County, Sichuan Province, each pooled RMB 3,000 to rent a car and travel to Yushu to help save lives. Five carpenters from Pengzhou, Sichuan, were in Nangqen County, Qinghai when they heard about the earthquake. They immediately headed out to join the rescue effort, arriving at the site only one hour after the national crew. Two restaurant owners in Yushu whose homes were in Wenchuan provided free meals to quake victims and rescue workers as a token of gratitude for the enormous help they and their fellow residents had received in May 2008.

The disaster sparked off a wave of donations from around the nation. Within 11 days funds received amounted to RMB 7.5 billion – RMB 3.5 billion in cash and RMB 4 billion in aid materials. A charity performance on April 19 in Xining raised RMB 670 million in cash and RMB 200 million worth of supplies. The China Central Television-sponsored fund-raising event the next day chalked up another RMB 2.175 billion, easily exceeding the RMB 1.514 billion that had been mustered at the star-studded gathering in aid of Wenchuan two years earlier.

Besides writing big checks, the business sector also helped with the work in Yushu of restoring facilities and services critical in everyday life. When news of the earthquake first broke, telecommunications companies shipped mobile generators, cable repair vehicles, contingency communication facilities and satellite phones to Yushu. They also reset the local mobile phone network to give all users in the area, even subscribers whose payments were overdue, access to their services. Certain grocery chains opened outlets in Yushu to anchor prices and donated all their takings to quake victims.