BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Few things other than stories of victims
rescued following China's most deadly earthquake in 32 years would touch the
Chinese heart now. But the emotional Premier Wen Jiabao did.
At www.tudou.com, China's YouTube-like site, a video titled "Dear Premier
Wen, you moved China" is attracting hundreds of views. It's a compilation of
scenes of Wen's visit to southwestern Sichuan Province, which was devastated by
the most deadly earthquake in China since 1976.
Wynlxl, the netizen producer of the video, wrote a caption: "Our dear
Premier Wen, you had a long day."
About two hours after the 7.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Wenchuan County
in northwestern Sichuan, Wen was en route to the region by plane.
Within about 48 hours, he had paid whirlwind visits to almost all the
worst-hit cities and towns including Dujiangyan, Deyang, Mianzhu, Mianyang,
Beichuan and Wenchuan.
On Wednesday afternoon, half a day after the first soldiers reached the
epicenter town, Yingxiu, he landed there by helicopter.
GRANDPA WEN
There were many moving moments widely discussed by ordinary Chinese. One
was Wen caressing the cheek of a weeping girl in a factory, murmuring to her:
"Don't cry. Food will be sent in a short time. Biscuits and milk powder will be
sent, too." It touched many hearts.
Audiences saw a tearful Wen on TV as well. The premier wept as he watched
rescuers try to get two children out of the shattered remains of a primary
school in Dujiangyan.
Standing in rain showers, he yelled to the children through a crack: "I am
grandpa Wen Jiabao. You will certainly pull through and be rescued."
On late Monday evening after hours of travel and work, as drizzle fell, Wen
walked over mud and debris at a local hospital and middle school where patients
and students were trapped under collapsed buildings.
"If only there is the slightest hope, we will spare no effort; if only
there is one survivor in the debris, we will not give up," he said over the
debris of the school building that buried more than 100 students.
To the bodies of victims temporarily placed on the school yard, Wen bowed
three times as he had done at the funeral of three technicians who died while
repairing damaged electricity transmission lines in the winter disaster early
this year.
"Your pain is our pain. We are here to help you," he told the victims of
Beichuan County.
In Yingxiu County, where 70 to 80 percent of buildings were toppled, rescue
work has just started.
"The Communist Party of China Central Committee has not forgotten this
place. We will try every method to save the injured," said Wen, reaching out to
the victims who were waiting to be airlifted to hospitals as soon as he flew
into the town by helicopter on Wednesday afternoon.
On the CCTV website, people created a forum called "Premier Wen, We love
you."
Omgomg, a netizen, wrote in a post: "Premier Wen Jiabao always appears
where he is most needed at the right time, raises public morale and assures us
with confidence. How could we not love him?"
BUSY HEADQUARTERS
It was not the first time that Wen was seen at the front lines when the
government was facing a challenge to lead a large part of the country through a
disaster.
In 2003, he visited SARS wards when the government was working all out to
control the epidemic; earlier this year, he trekked slippery roads to oversee
relief work when half of the country struggled through the worst snow and ice
storms in 50 years.
People expect Wen's emotional face as well as effective and steadfast
actions.
Hours after the quake, a relief task force headed by Wen was pulled
together on the plane to Chengdu, the Sichuan provincial capital.
"Confronted with the disaster, we need composure, confidence, courage and
an effective command," he said, promising the country in front of the CCTV
cameras that the government will lead the people to win the battle against the
earthquake.
Wen made it very clear that the top task was to save lives, and he pressed
officials and troops very hard to implement rescue work.
Three hours later, in a tent at Dujiangyan, Wen presided over another
meeting of the relief task force. The first thing he ordered was to send
rescuers into the isolated epicenter "by all means."
"The earlier, even a minute, we reach the quake-hit areas, the more lives
we are able to save," he said.
He ordered that roads be cleared to the epicenter by Tuesday midnight.
The first group of 30 soldiers arrived at the epicenter town Yingxiu on
foot on Tuesday afternoon and rescued 300 people by midnight.
More soldiers, doctors, rescue experts, engineers and volunteers were
assembled in Sichuan and tons of bottled water, milk, instant noodles and other
relief materials were trucked in and airdropped to the quake-hit areas.
From the big issues of restoring traffic flows and allocating troops to
tiny things like milk powder for infants, Wen addressed them carefully at relief
work meetings.
"The Chinese government acted really fast for disaster relief. It was
beyond my expectations," said Tristan Lebraz, a reporter from French TV channel
France 2, who covered the quake in Mianyang city in Sichuan.
Pan Guang, a research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences,
said the government's response has been fast.
"It's not realistic to save every victim immediately after the quake, but
judging from the speed and scale of the response, China has already created a
nation-wide system to counter the disaster," he said.