Society

Wenchuan people see off post-quake builders

(Huang Zhiling)
Updated: 2011-05-21 21:37

Guo An, a farmer in Weizhou town in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province, got up at 4 am yesterday to pick cherries in his fields before walking for one hour and a half to the county seat, joining others in sending off people from Guangdong province who had helped his county in its post-quake reconstruction.

In a distance of 55 kilometers from the county seat to Yingxiu Town which was the epicenter of the May 12 earthquake of 2008, thousands of Wenchuan people waited by the National Highway 213 to see off Guangdong builders on Friday.

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They tried hard to offer us their local specialties such as fresh cherries, bacon, potatoes and eggs, said Fan Zhongjie, one of some 200 builders who left for their home province of Guangdong yesterday.

Guangdong builders were the last to leave Sichuan among all those who helped Sichuan in its post-quake reconstruction.

After the devastating magnitude-8.0 earthquake, the central government had asked 18 provinces and municipalities to assist Sichuan in its reconstruction.

Guangdong designated its 13 cities to help 13 townships in their reconstruction. In the past three years, the province has allocated 11.2 billion yuan ($1.72 billion) in reconstruction funds to Wenchuan and thousands of Guangdong builders have involved in Wenchuan’s reconstruction.

Thanks to the assistance of Guangdong, Wenchuan’s development level has surpassed that before the quake, according to Qing Lidong, Party chief of Wenchuan, who expressed heartfelt thanks to the people of Guangdong on behalf of some 100,000 people of Wenchuan in the send-off ceremony yesterday.

Although the builders of Guangdong had left, the province would continue its support for Wenchuan, according to Chen Maohui, an official in charge of Guangdong’s assistance in the reconstruction of Wenchuan.

Guangdong has signed a long-term cooperation framework agreement with Wenchuan to build the Guangdong Industrial Park in the county, he said.