When a helping hand is more of a hindrance

Traveling from Chengdu to the epicenter of the earthquake in Lushan country, or to Baoxing, 30 kilometers from the epicenter, I passed many groups of volunteers on their way to the affected areas.

I understand and admire their desire to help, their compassion for the victims - but it might have been better for them to think twice about what they were doing.

I met Cheng Mu, for instance, in Lushan on Monday. The pleasant-faced man in his 30s runs a small business in Chengdu. He helped for nine days when the magnitude-8 earthquake hit Wenchuan, Sichuan province, on May 12, 2008.