Go West volunteer recounts Gyirong rescue efforts

Until last month, Hao Zhen had only seen disaster relief efforts on the news. Then a devastating mudslide struck Gyirong, the remote border county in Xizang autonomous region where he works as a volunteer.

The 27-year-old was among 17 volunteers from China's Go West program who joined relief efforts in Gyirong township after the Aug 26 disaster.

While professional rescue teams searched the hardest-hit areas, Hao and his fellow volunteers worked behind the scenes, arranging accommodation, distributing supplies and helping provide meals for displaced residents and rescue workers.

"When the disaster first happened, a lot of affected residents and rescuers arrived in the township all at once," Hao said.

"The first thing we had to do was make sure they had somewhere to stay and food to eat."

As relief supplies poured in, the volunteers counted, sorted and moved thousands of boxes donated by Red Cross organizations, companies and foundations. They also helped with logistical work at the local emergency response headquarters and collected and organized information from the disaster area.

The experience gave Hao a new understanding of what disaster relief involves.

"Before this, I had only read news stories about volunteers helping after disasters," he said.

"Now I realize that you don't have to be on the search-and-rescue front line to make a difference. Keeping things running behind the scenes matters, too."

Born in 1999, Hao is the oldest of the 17 Go West program volunteers working in Gyirong township. Most of the others were born between 2000 and 2003. They come from across China, including Heilongjiang, Jiangxi and Shandong provinces, as well as Xizang, and have backgrounds ranging from medicine to education.

The work has come with practical challenges. Only two of the 17 volunteers speak Tibetan, creating communication difficulties at the shelters. Local township officials often stepped in to interpret.

Food and accommodation were also stretched in the first few days as large numbers of residents, rescuers and support workers arrived in the small border town. Hao said the situation gradually improved as local authorities coordinated with hotels and restaurants to provide additional support.

Another five Go West program volunteers remained in the county seat, helping receive relatives of missing people, assisting families and handling calls and follow-ups through the 12345 public service hotline. Volunteers from nearby counties, including Lhaze and Dingri, also came to help.

For Hao, Gyirong is a long way from home — nearly 5,700 kilometers from Shuangyashan in Heilongjiang province. He usually makes the journey home only once a year.

He arrived in Gyirong in February 2025 to join the Go West program and plans to stay for three years. His family initially tried to talk him out of the move, worried about the distance and the physical demands of living at high altitude.

"But I thought, if everyone worries about the hardship and the distance, places like this will have fewer and fewer young people willing to come," Hao said.

The physical challenges are real. When Hao first arrived in Gyirong, he found he did not have the same stamina he had at lower elevations. He also experienced heart palpitations when he first joined the relief effort. After more than a year on the plateau, however, he said his body has largely adapted.

His family still worries about him, particularly after learning that he was involved in the disaster response.

"But the disaster happened right here, where we work and live," Hao said.

"Since we chose to come here as volunteers, helping when something like this happens is simply part of what we should do."

The Aug 26 mudslide at Gyirong Port on the China-Nepal border was triggered by an ice-rock avalanche originating from a high-altitude glacier in Nepal. As of Friday evening, 31 people had been confirmed dead and 531 remained missing in Gyirong, according to the local emergency response and rescue command headquarters.

For Hao, the experience has also changed the way he sees the small tasks that fill much of his day.

Moving boxes, arranging accommodation and making sure people have meals may be far removed from the dramatic scenes of a search-and-rescue operation, but he no longer sees them as minor jobs.

"My biggest hope now is that we can keep the support work running smoothly, that all the rescuers return safely and that there are no more secondary disasters," he said.