Editor's note
Tragedy and hope
This is China’s year. Even if in November a first black American President enters the White House, the scale of events hitting the mainland and their repercussions looks hard to beat in the world’s agenda.
When the global protest against the Tibetan riots seemed to have put Beijing against the wall and cast a shadow over the Olympic pride (this was arguably the most marred torch relay of all times), a few terrifying minutes in Sichuan changed everything.
I cannot grasp the horror of almost 70 thousand dead, 18000 missing (probably dead as well) and five million homeless. To give you an approximate idea, it’s the entire Danish population all of the sudden without a roof.
What I can understand and admire was the response not only from the Chinese government, but also from the entire
Chinese population to the catastrophe that hit their Sichuanese brothers. Independent reports speak of a spontaneous wave of help in all forms, showing citizens not waiting for a sign from Beijing to act. That sign came quickly by the way and Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the scene immediately, followed by President Hu Jintao. Cynical minds would say that their attitude gave them invaluable political gains. Regardless the political dividends, I happen to believe that they were where they ought to be, consoling survivors and encouraging rescuers.
Desperate people need to feel that their leaders do not forget them. Contrastingly, it took 17 days to the Burmese military junta to visit survivors of the devastating cyclone Nargis, after the UN and international aid agencies had to beg to enter the country and help two million homeless Burmese. The junta actually showed clearly its priorities when it announced the extension of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest for one year more in the middle of the cyclone crisis.
If this Chinese official openness in an hour of despair and grief will be extended to other moments of the country’s life, remains to be seen.
It would be also important for the Chinese leadership to draw some lessons from the earthquake. A government cannot predict the full impact of a natural disaster, but it has the obligation to guarantee that the foundations of schools and buildings in general are not systematically weakened by the eternal corruption schemes of greedy builders. In the Sichuan case, the suspicion will last forever. The endless row of parents silently holding the pictures of their dead children in front of the rubble that was once a school is a harrowing reminder of how China needs to change its procedures. These people deserve a just explanation, not a vague excuse.