According to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s official report, China’s first spontaneous civilian disaster relief team with heavy construction equipment, arrived at the epicenter of Sichuan within 36 hours after last Monday’s earthquake, for a large-scale comprehensive relief operation.
Surprisingly, the response of this makeshift team was faster than that of the CCP’s military disaster relief troops with advanced resources.
Reportedly, the leader of this quick-response rescue team is Chen Guangbiao, board chairman of Huangpu Recycling Resources Company in Jiangsu Province. When the earthquake hit Wenchuan County, he was having a board meeting in Wuhan.
Chen immediately began rescue deployment upon learning the news. At 4:40 p.m. on the same day, a 120-person rescue team with 60 cranes, bulldozers, excavators and other large equipment normally used for construction, made their way from the provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui towards the quake’s epicenter in Sichuan.
Within 36 hours after the quake hit, this team had entered Mianyang City. Although other civilian teams would make their way to the disaster zone, Chen’s was on the scene first. This team has also carried out relief operations in Dujiangyan City, Mao County, as well as the hard hit Beichuan County in Mianyang.
The CCP’s Troops Respond Slower than Civilians
Meanwhile, the CCP’s military troops, with their advanced electronic equipment, military helicopters and cargo-transport planes, were unable to make them to the disaster areas until well after the civilian effort had arrived. According to the Xinhua.net, the arrivals of the military rescue team are as follows:
