Stacks of Donations Unopened 4 Years after Sichuan Quake
NTDTelevision
2012-03-20
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Nearly four years after Sichuan's major earthquake in 2008, stacks of donated goods remain unopened in a warehouse in the disaster zone of Beichuan. That's according to photos taken by a Chinese journalist on Sunday, raising new questions over how authorities handled post-disaster management.
These pictures posted by Chinese journalist, Zhang Ke, on his twitter-like microblog, show hundreds of boxes of unopened donations for the major earthquake that struck Sichuan back in 2008.
Nearly four years later they remain in this room inside a Beichuan retirement center.
Their labels indicate the boxes contain things like blankets, hot water bottles, as well as clothing for children.
Zhang's post has since been reposted numerous times, with many netizens demanding an explanation.
Beichuan officials responded on Monday, saying that the donations are non-perishables left over from the earthquake, and maintaining that authorities have kept them for use in later disasters.
One government official told NTD the retirement home was just a temporary storage place.
[Beichuan Government Official]:
"It's like this: these are our usual emergency supplies, we stored them in a structure that was later taken down, so we put these emergency supplies [in the retirement home], and will relocate them once the structure is repaired."
Nonetheless, one man who volunteered with aid work after the Sichuan earthquake says he saw many examples where donated goods were not fully utilized.
[Pu Fei, Sichuan Earthquake Aide Volunteer]:
"At the time, the distribution of aid after the earthquake was not reasonable. A lot of officials in many areas wanted to store all sorts of goods. I personally know that in many places, authorities only distributed just barely enough for the quake victims, and then stored the rest in warehouses."
Follow us on Twitter ☛ http://twitter.com/NTDTelevision
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Nearly four years after Sichuan's major earthquake in 2008, stacks of donated goods remain unopened in a warehouse in the disaster zone of Beichuan. That's according to photos taken by a Chinese journalist on Sunday, raising new questions over how authorities handled post-disaster management.
These pictures posted by Chinese journalist, Zhang Ke, on his twitter-like microblog, show hundreds of boxes of unopened donations for the major earthquake that struck Sichuan back in 2008.
Nearly four years later they remain in this room inside a Beichuan retirement center.
Their labels indicate the boxes contain things like blankets, hot water bottles, as well as clothing for children.
Zhang's post has since been reposted numerous times, with many netizens demanding an explanation.
Beichuan officials responded on Monday, saying that the donations are non-perishables left over from the earthquake, and maintaining that authorities have kept them for use in later disasters.
One government official told NTD the retirement home was just a temporary storage place.
[Beichuan Government Official]:
"It's like this: these are our usual emergency supplies, we stored them in a structure that was later taken down, so we put these emergency supplies [in the retirement home], and will relocate them once the structure is repaired."
Nonetheless, one man who volunteered with aid work after the Sichuan earthquake says he saw many examples where donated goods were not fully utilized.
[Pu Fei, Sichuan Earthquake Aide Volunteer]:
"At the time, the distribution of aid after the earthquake was not reasonable. A lot of officials in many areas wanted to store all sorts of goods. I personally know that in many places, authorities only distributed just barely enough for the quake victims, and then stored the rest in warehouses."
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