Chinese rescue team fights in Katmandu

The 8.2 magnitude earthquake in Nepal has caused 5,057 deaths and 8,200 injuries. More than 6.6 million people in Nepal have been affected, and 400,000 buildings collapsed during the earthquake. In this emergency, the Chinese rescue team in Katmandu is doing its best to help.

“We arrived in Katmandu at 1 o'clock in the morning of April 28, and started recue work at 7,” said Chen Dairong, who is in charge of the Chinese rescue team in Nepal told People's Daily. Chen is leading a team of 30 people engaged in rescue work on the north side of Katmandu: a 5-floor residential building has suffered severe damage, with the bottom 3 floors collpased, and 4 residents are trapped. Team members risk their own lives to open up a tunnel and save the residents. An officer of the Nepal SWAT team notes that the Chinese rescue team is very professional and experienced.

“We worked 34 hours non-stop and finally pulled out a survivor. This was a new record for the Chinese rescue team,” said team leader Liu Haifeng. The 62 members of the team work in relays, with little rest. Liu added that this is a particularly difficult and dangerous rescue environment because of the intensive building.

Zhang Xuemei, a member of the rescue team, told People's daily that Nepal was not her first experience of rescue work. Before Katmandu, she had also been to Haiti, Pakistan, and the Philippines. Zhang said that the Chinese rescue team is the second fully equipped team (combining both medical team and rescue team) in Asia. The Chinese medical team has brought 2 million yuan worth medication to Nepal and is helping the local residents with regular medical care after the earthquake.

The Chinese rescue team is camping in the backyard of the old Katmandu Palace which has now turned into a deserted grassland. Bad weather and aftershocks have made the camping here very arduous for the Chinese rescuers. But they stay in the front line. The director of the public health department of Nepal said during an interview that the people of Nepal were very grateful to the Chinese rescue team for its help. China is a reliable friend of Nepal – as well as the earthquake rescue team, another Chinese medical team is working in the tumor hospital in Nepal that China helped to build. 

This article is edited and translated from 《中国救援队奋战加德满都》，source: People's Daily, author: Lyu Pengfei