Fu Jing: Sichuan's deja vu experience

It was my original plan to write about the reconstruction miracle on the fifth anniversary of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan. But another devastating quake scuttled my plans and made it hard to get into the mood to write about recovery in my home province yet again.

In late March, I had done a week-long reporting trip through the most severely damaged mountainous towns in and near the epicenter of the 2008 quake. Perseverance, hard work and contributions from all walks of life had transformed the region in a very positive way.

The new towns are no different from some European tourism resorts.

Villagers have easier access to the outside with expressways and have moved into quake-resistant homes. They now have sustainable means to earn their daily bread, and some have devoted themselves to charitable deeds.

Just after the quake five years ago, I was sent to the frontline in the northern part of Sichuan. I spent 20 consecutive days, gathering stories in mountains and villages, among rubble and in hospitals — every experience of which moved me deeply. Since then, I had put consistent effort into reporting on the rescue, recovery and reconstruction, even after I was posted to our Brussels bureau three years ago.

Looking back, I found these interviews, talks and stories have enriched my journalistic career.

As journalists, we get the excitement of reporting on disasters, but the damage and sorrow it brings people is just too much.

Right now, it is my fervent hope that the world can be free of disasters. But reality is contrary.

As I write this in Brussels, I can imagine the struggles to rescue those buried under rubble in the Ya’an quake, which has already killed about 200, the deep sorrow of the families who have lost loved ones and the plight of villages isolated on mountain tops shattered by tremors.

I am a child of those mountains. I know very well what this latest quake means to those living in the high hills.

In between the two quakes in Sichuan, the world also experienced the Haiti quake in 2010 and the Japan quake and tsunami in 2011. And in April 2010, China’s Qinghai province also suffered a severe tremor, on which I had also reported.

Now, my thoughts are with my fellow Sichuanese, who are still suffering the aftermath of yet another 7.0-magnitude quake. There is no doubt they will return to better homes in two or three years, or even sooner, as we have learned from the reconstruction experience gathered in the last five years.

My only regret this time is that I could not fly back to help in the rescue efforts. But I am already thinking of how I can best contribute by mobilizing resources to help the affected areas.

I am more determined than ever to channel the efforts of my friends and colleagues into educational projects in poor, mountainous regions, especially in villages affected by quakes, floods and landslides.

This is now my aim in life. Apart from being a good journalist, I want to fulfill my lifelong charitable mission. With a new disaster hitting my home province, I need to carry on and look ahead.