Tangshan survivors head to Sichuan

More than a quarter of a century after China's 1976 Tangshan earthquake, a group of survivors are giving back by doing all they can to help victims of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan.

As professional rescuers race against time to pull people out from beneath the rubble, 13 farmers - also known as the "Thirteen Chivalrous Men from Tangshan" - have helped saved 25 children and continue to aid survivors in the aftermath of the disaster.

The heroes - Song Zhiyong and his friends and relatives from Dongbalipu village in Tangshan, Hebei province, - all survived northern China's 7.8-magnitude earthquake over three decades ago.

The Tangshan group last week pulled some 20 kids out from a collapsed school in Beichuan county. At one site, it took Song three hours to dig a small hole and clear the bricks needed to free three young girls.

After carrying out the bodies of roughly 100 victims, Song and his team continued on to Anxian county of Mianyang city.

Since Monday, they have spent their days transporting relief supplies and helping quake victims set up tents. Song told a local reporter it is not too cold at night, so their group spends most nights out in the open.

"We are fine," he said. We'll fight wherever the headquarters direct us to."

The father of a 3-year-old says he has no time to think about his family.

"As a survivor of the Tangshan earthquake, I am very sad for Sichuan people. I have no other choice, but to do anything I can to help."

Song's team previously moved the whole nation when they joined relief efforts in February, when a rare heavy snowstorm swept across southern China.

On the eve of the Spring Festival - with shovels and pickaxes - they set out for Chenzhou in Hunan province.

The storm caused a 13-day power outage in Chenzhou, and several districts were without water for days.

The farmers spent long days clearing piles of snow off a road leading to a power transmission tower on the mountain.

They did not utter a single complaint about the harsh conditions, but instead laughed at the local cuisine, which used hot peppers in every dish.

While Song and his fellow villagers were the only volunteers in Chenzhou, the Sichuan earthquake has drawn numerous volunteers.

Like Song and his team, many of the relief workers in Sichuan are survivors or orphans of the Tangshan quake.

The Tangshan quake resulted in a death toll of 240,000 and left some 4,000 children orphaned.

The death toll for Sichuan's quake currently hovers around 41,000 while 32,000 others are still missing.

(China Daily 05/22/2008 page19)