Businesses in quake-struck Jishishan county race to resume operations

Despite it being less than a week since Jishishan county was struck by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake, local businesses have been making efforts to get back to work and move on from the tragedy.

Less than a minute before the stroke of midnight on Dec 18, the earthquake struck Jishishan in the Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture in Gansu. It had resulted in 117 deaths and 781 injuries in Gansu as of the morning of Dec 22. A further 31 deaths have been recorded in neighboring Qinghai province.

The work focus has shifted from on-site inspections and search and rescue operations to resettling affected populations and treating the injured.

Qian Xiao, 29, the operations manager at a technology company in Jishishan, said that employees cleared damaged office areas with the aim of resuming work and production as soon as possible.

Although the company has not reported any casualties among its personnel, it has incurred losses exceeding 800,000 yuan ($112,000) in hardware, property and revenue. The office suffered ceiling collapses and wall ruptures, with the data center damaged, causing a halt in overall business operations.

The data center was restored, and the water and power supplies were fixed just three days after the quake. However, structural repairs of the buildings are temporarily on hold due to the unavailability of specialized workers. Fortunately, the office has been deemed habitable by the provincial housing department, said Qian.

The company, with 345 employees who are mostly locals from Jishishan, had around 50 employees in the office during the earthquake. All employees were evacuated to safe zones, and the management arranged for the staff to stay inside vehicles with their heaters running to prevent freezing, considering the outdoor temperature was minus 13 C at that time.

Qian said that many of his employees have either lost their houses or they have been severely damaged, and that they are currently residing in temporary shelters.

Since the quake hit, company employees have rallied together to help by volunteering, assisting in the transportation of relief supplies and contributing to cleanup and repair efforts.

Despite the preparations being made to get the company back to work as soon as possible, Qian said more time was needed so that employees could deal with the disaster.

"Our employees are young and often serve as the main support for their families, with elderly and young dependents. Forcing them to return to work at this time would cause significant unease," he said.

Liu Jianguo, 26, a manager from Baiyi Yinong International Flower Port in Linxia, said that after the earthquake, the company's management promptly conducted safety checks on production workshops and factories. Once safety was confirmed, they decided to restart operations.

The company, with over 500 employees, promptly donated urgently needed relief materials to the hardest-hit areas and provided timely support to affected employees, said Liu.

Before returning to work on the morning of Dec 19, the company organized a second safety inspection of production workshops and factories, he said. In addition to checking building structures, they focused on gas pipelines to ensure no hazardous gas leaks, due to the large supply and demand of gas in winter, primarily used for heating in production workshops and greenhouse sheds.