By Zhang Xiangyang
In disaster relief, to take people’s lives and safety as the top priority has remained a firm commitment of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
After a 6.4-magnitude earthquake jolted Yangbi Yi Autonomous County in southwest China’s Yunnan province and a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Madoi County of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China’s Qinghai province, in late May, the State Council’s earthquake relief headquarters took swift actions to implement the decisions made by the CPC Central Committee. Its subordinate organizations also acted quickly, sending 10 work teams to the quake-hit areas. The Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched two working groups to the two places. A joint earthquake response was immediately launched.
The working groups, together with the local governments, carried out search and rescue work in a thorough manner so ensure that no village, household and people was left behind. They did their utmost to rescue and treat wounded people, bringing the number of causalities to the lowest level.
They transferred quake-affected people to safer places and helped them settle down in a timely manner, guaranteeing the basic livelihood of these people while satisfying their need for epidemic control materials and medical supplies. Such efforts manifested the notion of putting the people and their lives in the first place adopted by the CPC.
Thanks to such efforts, many schools in Madoi County have resumed classes, with students having classes inside 184 tents that serve as temporary classrooms, while quake-stricken people in Yangbi, once a stop along the ancient Tea Horse Road, are provided with enough food, clothes, safe temporary homes and clean water.
Back in 2008, a picture in which a soldier held in his arms a baby he had just saved from the earthquake that jolted Wenchuan County in southwest China’s Sichuan province touched the whole country. The innocent look of the child, together with the joyful smile seen on the face of the soldier made the picture powerful even today.
The rescue teams were the first to arrive at the disaster areas after the earthquakes occurred in Lushan, Jiuzhaigou and Changning in southwest China’s Sichuan province, and Ludian in Yunnan province. The CPC members always charged forward in disaster relief, just as they had promised to do so. In every disaster, the CPC and the central government always put people’s lives and safety first by doing their utmost as long as there’s still a ray of hope.
In the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, the country did not give up hope, but did its best to save all infected patients, the youngest being an infant who was infected just 30 hours after being born and the oldest a 108-year-old patient. In 2020, when floods swept southern China, CPC members, including those from the Central Committee of the CPC, and those from local Party organizations, all contributed their efforts to the fight against the floods.
Facts have proven that the ultimate purpose of the CPC in leading revolutions, and carrying out construction and reforms is to create a better life for the people. The CPC will remain committed to this aspiration no matter how hard it is challenged and pressured, how huge sacrifices it has to make and how big the price it has to pay.
