Three months after the catastrophic earthquake shook Sichuan, over a million victimsare still in desperate need of help. The government's proposed relief funding and goods have not arrived and corrupt officials are still collecting the goods that are in need of distribution. Winter is coming and many victims still live in temporary tents.
Zheng from Longnan City, Gansu Province said, “The central government said they were to give ten yuan (approximately US$ 1.4) for each person each day for daily expenses. In fact, most relief cash and goods were embezzled by local government officials.”
“Many people have received only 200 yuan or even 150 yuan per month instead of 300 as promised. Local government officials abuse their authority and give the relief cash to certain people only and not everyone receives this money. A truck driver came in with a truck load of blankets, saying that people from Hong Kong donated them. The driver split the blankets with several people who are close to him. No one regulates things like this.”
“The government said it would give 20,000 yuan (approximately US$ 2,857) to those whose houses collapsed and 3,000 yuan (approximately US$ 428) to those whose houses need repair work. The money is insignificant considering the price of building materials has gone way up. Besides, many have lost their jobs and can barely afford limited daily expenses, let alone building or fixing houses. We are forced to live in tents because of [these regulations].”
Zhang said the tents are overcrowded and are extremely damp on the inside layer because of the rain recently. Zhang also said that he hadn’t been eating much since the cost of everything has risen.
According to Zhang, local officials also let lots of relief goods go bad, “We are not getting any attention because of the Olympics. Many relief goods such as clothes or blankets became moldy due to improper storage—officials would rather let them sit and go bad than to release them.”
Zhang said the victims of the earthquake have nowhere to appeal. If a person were to appeal in say, Beijing, another city, out in the country, or in even a village, the police would lock that person up two weeks if you appeal. The more places you appeal ot, the longer your jail time would be, said Zhang.
Another earthquake victim named Yongfu from Yingxiu Town, Sichuan, said the government only issues relief cash for couples with one child, who are in accordance to China's one-child policy.
“We received funds only in the first month and have received nothing for the next two months. People who are outside the limitations of the one-child policy are human too and have suffered through this catastrophe as well. Why should there be a difference?”
Read the original article in Chinese
