Officials, victims strain to fix grassroots problems
- Source: The Global Times
- [00:04 May 12 2009]
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By Wang Weilan from Mianyang, Sichuan
One year on, Beichuan county town begins its slow rebirth.
By Wang Weilan from Mianyang, Sichuan
Most people in the earthquake-hit area are satisfied with the job the officials are doing, said Li Chunshou, vice director of the People’s Congress of Beichuan County.
“I would say 99 percent of them are content,” he said.
“I am content with nothing at all,” said Sun Tingying, a woman in her 40s living in the prefabricated zone.
Between these two extremes of truth remains a much more complex picture of intense pressure on grassroots officials, the unmet demands of some ordinary people and the relatively delicate relations between officials and ordinary people.
“These women blamed radiation in prefabricated apartments for not being able to conceive a baby or miscarriages. Isn’t that crazy?” said Li Chunshou.
More than 100 pregnant women living in prefabricated apartments had suffered miscarriages for unknown reasons, according to the Chengdu-based Tianfu Morning Post.
A pregnancy guidance center with an X-Ray machine has now been stationed in the prefab zone and a doctor is touring the complex.
There has been no official reply to the story, but an official who refused to be named said, “Suppose it is found that the level of radiation or formaldehyde exceeds standards.
“As all the apartments were built at about the same time, where do you expect to accommodate all the earthquake-hit people?”