Leaders worldwide have offered condolences to China over the deadly earthquake that jolted Wenchuan county in southwestern Sichuan province and adjacent areas. After the devastating quake hit Wenchuan county, the quake epicenter, on May 12, 2008, the international community and leaders of various countries have sent messages to Chinese leaders to extend their sympathy and solicitude for the quake victims.
Many countries have voiced their intent or readiness to offer aid to China or have provided it with relief funds or materials, and some countries have granted additional aid with an increased intensity. Rescue teams sent by Russia and Japan have already been in rescue operation in the Wenchuan quake area. And China has extended its heartfelt gratitude and welcome to the international community for its concerns and timely help.
The recent quake in China has been the severest in recent years, and it is rare and unprecedented in term of human casualties involved, the greatest destructive power, and tough, arduous conditions for rescue operation. At the same time, it is also rare and unprecedented in term of the quick response of the Chinese government to the disaster, its effectiveness in organizing rescue operations, and the timeliness and transparency with its release of the quake-related information. International public opinions have paid high attention to China's quake-relief endeavor with an objective reportage in general and an extensive, positive appraisal of the government's relief moves.
In the contemporary world, the awareness for the humanity commonwealth has gradually entered into the people's minds. When one nation is in trouble, assistance will come from all other nations, and this has been become a conventional practice globally. When a major disaster befalls on a nation, it would stir the hearts of people around the world. At the time when an exceedingly great tremor jolted China, all other nations extended their sympathy and offered their helping hands. It has given expressions to a loving care of the humanity and the awareness of international obligations.
Moreover, the Overseas Chinese and Chinese expatriates worldwide, and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan rushed about to canvass aid and plunged themselves into making money and goods donations. In so doing, they demonstrate not only their ardent love for the humanity but their heartfelt affection for their countrymen.
China has taken an active part in international disaster relief efforts over recent years. For example, in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Chinese government donated a total sum of 687.63 million Renminbi yuan to the countries concerned. China sent batches of relief aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina, 2005 in the United States, quake victims in Pakistan and Iran, and cyclone victims in Myanmar (or Burma). The Chinese government has granted the increased aid to other countries and drawn praises and acclamations from the international community.
Meanwhile, the awareness of Chinese society about international relief operation has also been upgraded. For example, widespread donation activities have also been conducted among people on an extensive scale after the occurrence of the Indonesia tsunami. In addition, Chinese-funded enterprises overseas have also heightened their social responsibilities. Upon the rage of an earthquake in Pakistan, a dozen Chinese firms offered cash aid to local Pakistan governments, and one of them was said to grant an aid of up to 10 million US dollars.
China's main body for international earthquake rescue work, the China International Search and Rescue (CISAR), was established in 2001. It has so far provided relief aid on five occasions, which include the 2003 Great Iranian Earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the Indonesia Earthquake of May 2006.
Whenever major natural calamities occurred internationally in recent years, noted a United Nations official, the Chinese government dispatched its search and rescue teams promptly to the disaster sites. This has shown the country's fine image of taking responsibility toward global affairs.
It is an outlook of values to relieve people of their distress and help them as far as an individual person is concerned and, as for the international community, it also represents a type of joint defense for the world peace and stability. The globe today is the world with an increasing advancement of the "globalization" tendency. "You should feel the same at the sight of others drowning (or starving)" -- this implies not only an ethnical demand but practical feelings for people of all nations. So nations require the heightened awareness of international obligations so as to to better cope with any crisis or contingency inside the global village. It is possible for anyone to have the time of perils and, in such circumstances, relieving people of their distress and helping them becomes a kind of value demand for the society to operate in a normal, healthy way.
With the same reason, every nation could possibly encounter an unexpected scourge, so the sharing of the disaster and the collective efforts to curb it will also be taken as the criteria for the international community to function efficiently.
By People's Daily Online and its author is Huang Qing, a PD desk editor
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