Go tell it to the mountain
Two young girls helped clear the way for rescuers to get through to Wenchuan county, just days after the May 12 earthquake struck Sichuan province.
By posting information online about a key mountain area, the girls were able to help rescue crews quickly reach more victims.
The posting read: "This is Wenchuan. There is a place suitable for the airborne force to land. This is very, very important information, please netizens, keep it atop all news. Don't let it be buried."
The note was referring to an open field on top of a mountain belonging to Qipangou village, about 7 km between Wenchuan and Chengdu.
The airborne force was eventually able to land in Wenchuan three days after the quake destroyed all means of communication with the outside world. The relief headquarters of Sichuan province managed to find the two girls who posted the information.
Sophomore Zhang Qi, who attends a vocational college in Chengdu, was one of them. She grew up in Maoxian, a county near Wenchuan. Because she couldn't reach her parents in Maoxian, or her sister in Wenchuan, the 22-year-old closely followed all the news updates broadcast on the Central People's Radio Station.
When she heard landslides were blocking the army, and heavy rains were keeping the air force away from the epicenter, Zhang became anxious. It usually took her five hours to reach Chengdu from Wenchuan. She knew all too well how the winding roads easily became blocked by mud and rock when strong rains fell.
Zhang's good friend Zuo Ting, who works in the scenic Jiuzhaigou area, also heard of the difficulties of the rescue mission. The 21-year-old had grown up playing on a mountain with a flat top, where her family and other villagers used to plant corn amid cherry trees.
The top of the mountain, known as "Big Flat Head" among locals, commands a good view and has two roads running to Wenchuan. The local government had planned to build an altar there to commemorate Dayu, a legendary prehistoric figure whom the Chinese believe once led the local people there to curb a huge flood.
"I believed that place was big enough for two helicopters," said Zhang.
From the television, the girls heard that Premier Wen Jiabao had ordered the army to reach Wenchuan by all means, and the army had chosen a mountain about 1,000 meters above sea level.
But, the girls knew the mountain was quite steep and carrying relief materials would be very dangerous.
"The mountain top near my home is about 100 m tall," Zuo said. "I thought it would be convenient for the air force to land on the 'Big Flat Head'."
So, at 8 pm on May 14, Zhang and Zuo posted the note at Baidu.com, a large search engine in the country.
Within seconds after the information was sent, a reply came on the BBS.
"We were afraid that net friends would think ours was false news, so we left our phone numbers," said Zhang.
Many people called the girls, so they had little time to sleep that night.
At noon the next day, about 16 hours after posting the information, Zhang got a call from a man who identified himself as belonging to "the airborne force" and asked her to explain the landscape in detail.
Zhang couldn't believe it long after the call. By 6 pm, a reporter in Shanghai called her, saying the air force headquarters had proven the information the two girls provided was valid. "Really? I could make my contribution to the quake-hit areas?" Zhang asked herself and cried for the first time since the quake.
Zuo learned of the news from "net friends", who told her the front page of Sohu.com, a major online portal in the country, announced the airborne force had chosen to land at the place the girls suggested.
"I've always believed in the speed and power of the net," said Zuo.
She was particularly touched how total strangers worried her mobile phone would run out of money and cause delays in verifying the information. They had recharged it for her before even calling.
Both Zhang and Zuo finally managed to reach their parents, who knew nothing about their daughters' extraordinary contribution to the area's rescue operations.
(China Daily 05/28/2008 page20)
