Supplies? Barely

Emergency response in county governments before the earthquake remained at a primary stage of making emergency plans, building rescue teams and storing essentials, said Peng Shiyang, first deputy county chief of Qingchuan. His county had prepared only a small number of disaster relief supplies - including 70 tents, 1,000 quilts and 6,000 clothing items - for 247,953 people.

In Guangyuan, speed boats are often used in rescues during the summer, when many streams are flooded. Beyond those, the disaster supplies on hand at the time of the quake consisted of trucks, ropes, wood and wire. Local rescue teams had nothing but shovels to carry to Qingchuan.

In 2009, the city received 11.48 million yuan from the central government to buy the most-needed rescue equipment, including life detectors, bulldozers and excavators.

The shortage of emergency essentials astounded rescue workers in Sichuan three years ago. Almost all medicines and medical equipment were in short supply. Bed sheets were cut into bandages and white spirits were used as a disinfectant.

Many people with serious injuries asked for painkillers desperately. Some even begged doctors to end their lives, said Zhang Tianlu, chief of the health bureau of Pingwu county.

"The public health system in Pingwu suffered grave losses during the earthquake," he said. The county's death toll reached 3,014. "Today's opportunity of development was gained at the cost of lives."

After the earthquake, Pingwu received nearly 300 million yuan to build 10 county-level health units and 25 township health centers. Each has a first-aid station. The county hired more than 100 medical workers, increasing the population of doctors and nurses by 40 percent. Emergency medical technicians were given professional training, and the police, teachers and public servants underwent basic training for emergencies.

"A hard lesson we learned from the earthquake is to educate the ordinary people from early childhood and improve the whole nation's ability of self-protection in time of natural disasters," said Qin Xiaoming, health bureau chief of Mianyang, Sichuan province.

"Courses on emergency treatment should also be opened at all levels of Party schools and public administration schools, so the commanders of public service will know exactly what to do and which orders to give once a disaster breaks out, without any instruction from their superiors."

The value of training

His suggestion was echoed by Wen Gang, an official of Beichuan county. When the disaster arrived at the doorstep of Beichuan, Wen was in his office on the third floor of the county government building.

With no restroom or other safe area at hand, his first reaction was to run to the door and hide under the doorframe, because it was reinforced by ring beams above. He passed out when the building collapsed and recovered about half an hour later. After he climbed out of the ruins, he found the third floor had become the first floor.

Before the disaster, he had attended a county-sponsored training course on how to hide and escape during an earthquake. "If I had no knowledge of what to do in such a situation, I would not have survived," he said.