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Opinion / Li Xing

Mutual help more vital than self-sacrifice
By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-03 06:44

Five successive typhoons swept through southern and central China between
May and July, killing hundreds of people and destroying hundreds of
thousands of homes.

Despite the losses, there is consolation in the fact that better
forecasting, pre-emptive evacuations and other preparations reduced the
loss of life compared to 10 years ago when lesser typhoons, storms and
floods resulted in high numbers of casualties.

As relief and donations arrive, people in disaster-stricken areas are
cleaning up the debris and working out ways to rebuild their homes and
lives. But many villagers cannot forget the few people - as common as
themselves - who sacrificed their own lives to save others.

Among them, Wang Shuxian, 74, was from a Yongding County village in East
China's Fujian Province. The retired soldier saved the lives of 18 fellow
villagers during a heavy downpour but was so exhausted after his efforts
that he fell into the fast-moving flood water.

Likewise, Cao Yanlin, a village group leader, began to knock on his
neighbours' doors at 7 am on July 15, when he received the evacuation
warning as Typhoon Bilis swept through Hunan Province. Ignoring his own
house, he went around every home in the village, even returning to cajole
a few stubborn villagers as the hill behind the village began to shake.

He made a head count and ensured that 109 villagers were gathered in the
safety area. Only then did his neighbours remind him that his twin sons
and his mother were not among them. He rushed back to his home, only to
be smothered along with his twin sons and mother in a landslide.

While we mourn these heroes and vow to work harder to repay their
self-sacrifice, their deaths also offer lessons for us to ponder.

I believe that mutual help is more important than individual's
self-sacrifice.

And this "mutual help" is not an empty phrase or lofty spiritual
pronouncement. Nor is it similar to the vow of "All for one, one for
all," made among Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers.

It should be a group effort developed through serious drills, similar to
the exercises we now go through to escape fire or shelter against
earthquakes in urban centres.

In the media reports we've heard far more about heroic individuals than
examples of how villagers organized themselves effectively and helped
each other reach safety in the face of impending danger.

In the examples above, there were apparently no drills or discussions on
how the village as a group - or how a few dozen strong-bodied village men
and women - should co-operate to safeguard their own lives in times of
emergency.

In the case of Cao Yanlin, one villager even recalled seeing Cao's son in
his home looking for his father, but that villager obviously didn't think
to take this boy along with his family to the safety area.

Aside from mutual assistance, discipline is also important. If all
villagers quickly heeded Cao's command, Cao might have had time to get
back to his sons and mother.

But discipline is sadly lacking, not only in villages but also in cities.

For instance, when rainstorms wreaked havoc in Beijing on Monday, a
section of the expressway heading to Beijing International Airport was
submerged to an average depth of 1.2 metres. The whole expressway
remained jammed for eight hours.

The airport management and municipal water management authorities have
been criticized for a lack of preparedness.

However, the public and the media have missed one detail: it took an
emergency maintenance vehicle three hours to travel through 15 kilometres
of traffic to arrive at the flooded section with pumps. The emergency
lane on the expressway was fully blocked by other vehicles eager to get
out of the jam.

Across the country, vehicles can often be seen driving in reserved lanes
but only in times of emergency do we see how this serious violation of
traffic regulations impedes public works and harms public welfare. What
if there had been lives at stake?

It is really time we thought through all of this and I believe developing
mutual assistance and enforcing discipline is the best way to pay tribute
to those who sacrificed their lives for others.

Email: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/03/2006 page4)

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