The Beijing News: How will the city government distribute funds in the most needed areas during reconstruction?
Li: Public housing is a priority during reconstruction, along with public facilities such as medical care, education and transportation. Only when these problems are solved will we consider reconstructing government office buildings.
We have made it clear that mass-demolishment and mass-construction is strictly forbidden during reconstruction. As for government office buildings, we have invited 87 experts from the state, other provinces and cities to appraise all the existing buildings to decide which ones can still function and which ones need to be torn down. As for residential buildings, we will organize local housing experts to evaluate them all. We'll make sure that all functional buildings remain in use and those that can be maintained will be given a proper overhaul.
Public Security Bureau's walkie talkies played an important role
The Beijing News: The May 12 earthquake has caused tremendous damage. How did you respond when the quake happened?
Li: I had just reached my office when the quake struck. The ceiling was falling – the whole building was shaking. I rushed down from the second floor as fast as I could.
I was terrified. When I reached the ground, I found all the government workers were gathering at the gate of Renji Hospital outside our courtyard.
The Beijing News: Were you aware that the earthquake was so devastating at that point?
Li: No. The municipal Party chief took off to Deyang to report on the disaster situation while all the other members of the municipal authorities split up and headed out to separate towns to check on the current situation. I stayed and inspected every school and hospital.
Some of the buildings in schools and hospitals were damaged but we had no casualties. I felt slightly relieved. But communications were down and most of my staff hadn't returned, so I wasn't yet clear about the actual situation.
The Beijing News: So how did you organize the relief work?
Li: About 40 minutes later, the Party chief returned from Deyang. We then established an earthquake relief headquarters and set up ten working groups including a support group, victim placement group, stability maintenance group and so on.
The Beijing News: How did you later learn about the disaster situation?
Li: News started arriving from towns that were closer to the city perimeter. Mobiles weren't working well at that time. Personal Access Phones worked better, but in the end walkie talkies from the Public Security Bureau played the biggest role.
We learnt that some of houses in the towns near the city had collapsed but luckily those buildings weren't close to others. However, situation got more and more serious as our workers penetrated into towns and villages located in the mountains.
Quake victims flooding into city pose great risks
The Beijing News: After the earthquake, many quake victims flooded into the city. Reports indicated that you were under great pressure at that time.
Li: Yes, thousands of victims entered the city on the evening of the earthquake. In the following days, more and more victims escaped from mountainous areas and came into the city. We were housing nearly 30, 000 victims by May 14.