Xinhua News Agency, Chengdu, August 25th: Race for Life and Death, Watch and Help, Never Give Up — — Direct hit Wenchuan heavy rainfall flood debris flow disaster relief

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Chaoqun and yangjin

　　In the early morning of August 20th, due to the continuous heavy rainfall, catastrophic mountain torrents and mudslides occurred in Wenchuan County, Lixian County, Maoxian County, Songpan County and Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province, in which 100% of towns and villages in Wenchuan County and more than 90% of the people were affected. Synchronized with the disaster, it is a life-and-death race of rescue and the mutual help of compatriots.

　　There is a kind of disaster relief called life and death race.

　　On the 20th, Feng Xiulan, an exhibitor from Nanchong City, Sichuan Province to Shuimo Ancient Town, Wenchuan County, who participated in the Food Shopping Festival, lived in a booth by the Shouxi River.

　　At 2 o’clock in the morning, Feng Xiulan found that the booth was flooded, and in a blink of an eye, the water soared from the ankle to the waist. No sooner had she lifted her 8-year-old child from the cot than the board and bedding were washed away. In desperation, Feng Xiulan and her family grabbed the doors and windows of the opposite shop and climbed to the roof, only to escape.

　　When the flood receded, a thick layer of sediment was deposited on both sides of the river in Shuimo Town, with the thickest part exceeding half a meter. A large number of plant branches washed down from the upstream were wrapped in the sediment, with a diameter of 50 cm. A large number of private cars were destroyed by floods, piled together, some stood upside down on the trunk next to them, and some were washed into residential houses.

　　In sanjiang town, Wenchuan County, upstream of the water mill, the river that originally flowed through the edge of the town was diverted because of the excessive water potential, passing through the city, flooding most of the town, and many buildings seemed to be built in the middle of the river.

　　As of 25th, more than 102,000 people in Aba Prefecture were affected by the disaster, 12 people were killed and 26 people lost contact.

　　On the night of the disaster, a full-time fire brigade of Shuimo Town and a group of seven people received the alarm and went to sanjiang town to rescue the trapped tourists. The fire truck was suddenly flooded just a few kilometers away. The 33-year-old monitor died in poverty, and Xin Yang, the captain, was thrown ashore after being swept by the flood for more than 3 kilometers. The six surviving firefighters endured the pain and searched and rescued the trapped people overnight. It was not until noon on the 23rd that Yang Xincai recovered from the grief of intense rescue and the sacrifice of his comrades-in-arms and ate some rice.

　　"The disaster is the order. We are the local rescue force. We are the most familiar with the situation and must stick to it." Xin Yang’s arms and legs were covered with scars. Because he had to drive a rescue vehicle, the wound on his knee had just scabbed and been torn open.

　　After the disaster, Sichuan Province and Aba Prefecture responded immediately, set up front-line headquarters, quickly formed an emergency relief system, organized rescue forces of more than 3,000 people including public security, fire fighting and armed police to put into disaster relief, and distributed 25 kinds of relief materials such as quilts (6,950 beds), rice (41.25 tons) and cooking oil (2.75 tons).

　　There is a kind of power called mutual help.

　　Disaster is merciless, and people are affectionate. Almost in sync with the floods, people in party member in Wenchuan and other places tried their best to help each other.

　　Yuzixi Village, Yingxiu Town, Wenchuan County, was lightly affected due to its high terrain. On the day of the disaster, the village of more than 800 people organized nearly 200 people to go down the mountain and transfer the affected people nearby to the village. On the evening of 20th, more than 300 people were resettled in Yuzixi Village, and 14 people lived in the villagers’ homes at most.

　　"It was still raining, it was very cold, and there were many old people and children. If you don’t arrange well, you will definitely get sick." Ma Guihua, a villager, said, "I took out all the extra quilts in my house. When there was not enough room on the bed and sofa, I set up a wooden board to spread the quilts." Early the next morning, Murakami spontaneously set up a water mat to let the villagers who avoided the disaster eat hot meals.

　　After learning about the disaster, Yao Xiong, a 27-year-old boy from Xuankou Town, Wenchuan County, hired a driver, and the two of them drove forklifts and excavators for dry projects to rescue them. "Life is more important. I am a young man. If I need to go, I will go at once." After the Wenchuan earthquake, Yao Xiong knew the importance of racing against time.

　　"The villagers’ houses were destroyed and the fields were buried. It was sad to watch, and we also came up with a contribution." On the 21st, Yan Daijun of Wenchuan SF Express spontaneously organized a 14-person volunteer courier team to buy food, water and other living materials out of his own pocket, and rushed to the temporary resettlement site in Mianmian Town, Wenchuan County on foot to give warmth to the affected people, and to assist local militia and villagers to clean up the mud in roads and houses.

　　"Wenchuan is our common home. If it is difficult for everyone to carry it together, everything will be fine." Yan Daijun said.

　　There is a kind of warmth called never giving up.

　　August is the tourist season in Aba Prefecture. The sudden disaster caused more than 95,500 tourists to stay, and more than 47,200 people were stranded in Wenchuan alone, most of whom were elderly people and children who went to the mountains for summer vacation.

　　The state and county governments in Sichuan Province urgently dispatched helicopters and buses and organized private cars to evacuate tourists.

　　When transferring tourists is the busiest, Shuimo Tourist Passenger Station will transfer nearly 3,000 people a day. Zhou Jin, the head of the passenger station, once served as the director of Jiuzhaigou Transportation Management Office, and his rich transportation experience made him calmly cope with this tourist transfer. "In the face of disasters, all parties are very powerful. With a greeting, more than 40 buses of transportation companies will soon be in place." Zhou Jin said. At the passenger station, tourists get off the bus, wait for the bus, and then get on the bus in an orderly manner.

　　Gou Daming, 73, had lived in sanjiang town for a month before he withdrew. When he met the reporter, he was waiting for the bus to return to Chengdu at the passenger station. "We really panicked when we found that there was no electricity or water, but the government was very concerned about us, and the staff were very hard. Some people didn’t sleep for two days and nights."

　　At 12: 49 on the 24th, with the last pickup truck transporting trapped villagers entering the government of Gengda Town, Wolong, 96 tourists and villagers trapped in Yaozigou of Longtan Power Station reservoir area in Gengda Town were evacuated safely after more than 100 hours of joint rescue in the open space day and night.

　　"I knew you didn’t give up on us." Seeing the rescuers, some trapped tourists shed tears. By noon on the 24th, all the stranded tourists in the Wenchuan flood and debris flow disaster had been transferred to safety.

　　A research team composed of researchers from many countries said in a paper published in the well-known academic journal Science on the 18th that due to climate change and excessive water use by human beings, in the nearly 30 years since the early 1990s, the water storage capacity of 53% of large lakes and reservoirs in the world has been greatly reduced, and the average annual net reduction is roughly equivalent to the annual water consumption of the United States in 1995. Considering that lakes and reservoirs store about 87% of fresh water on the global surface, the paper calls for strengthening sustainable water resources management and attaching importance to the important role played by climate change.

　　On May 13th, 2023, local time, the Los Bermejales Reservoir in Grana, Spain was affected by drought, and its storage capacity was only 18%.

　　The lake is in trouble　　

　　Researchers come from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Toulouse, France and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. Using satellite observation data from 1992 to 2020, combined with climate data and hydrological models, they studied 1051 large lakes and 921 large reservoirs around the world, and their water storage capacity accounted for 96% and 83% of the global natural lakes and reservoirs respectively. 　　

　　On July 28th, 2022, local time, Slobodzia, Romania, the dry bed of Lake Amara. Due to the lack of precipitation and extreme high temperature, Lake Amara, which stretches for about 8 square kilometers, almost evaporated.

　　On July 28th, 2022, in Slobozia, Romania, a shepherd drew water from a well beside the bed of Lake Amara.

　　The researchers say that they pay attention to these large freshwater bodies because the larger the observation range, the higher the accuracy of satellite observation data, and large water bodies are also important to humans and wildlife. In 28 years, they evaluated these water bodies six times a year. The results show that although the water storage capacity of some lakes and reservoirs has increased, on the whole, the water storage capacity of lakes and reservoirs in the world has generally decreased, with an average annual net decrease of about 22 billion tons, equivalent to the annual water consumption of the United States in 1995; The cumulative volume of water decreased by about 603 cubic kilometers, equivalent to 17 times the volume of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. Lake Mead is impounded by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, covering an area of more than 600 square kilometers. 　

　　Changes of Lake Mead in the United States from 2000 to 2022.

　　On March 6, 2023, in Boulder, Nevada, USA, along the border between Nevada and Arizona, the "bathtub ring" shows the water level line of Lake Mead.

　　On April 16th, 2023, Nevada, USA, during the low water level of Lake Mead, you can see the ruins of St. Thomas. When Lake Meade was first filled in the 1930s, the ruins of St. Thomas were submerged by the reservoir.

　　On April 16, 2023, local time, in Nevada, USA, the brown Colorado River flows through Lake Mead, where the water level drops.

　　Balaji Rajagopalan, a professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said that about 2 billion people in the world, that is, 25% of the total population, live in large lakes and their watersheds, and from a global perspective, "lakes are in trouble and have far-reaching effects".

　　Climate factors are even greater.　

　　Researchers use statistical models including climate and hydrological trends to sort out the reasons for the reduction of water storage capacity, and find that for natural lakes, 56% of the net loss is caused by climate change and human activities, of which climate change "accounts for a larger proportion", the most obvious performance is that the increase of temperature leads to the increase of water evaporation. 　　

　　On August 20th, 2022, local time, water poured down from the dam in Desso, villanova, Spain.

　　On August 20th, 2022, local time in Deso, villanova, Spain, the water level of the reservoir was low due to drought.

　　For the reservoir, the main reason for the decrease of water storage capacity is sedimentation: due to upstream sediment deposition, the reservoir is blocked, the aging of the reservoir is accelerated, and the water storage capacity is reduced. These changes do not happen overnight, but as slowly as boiling frogs in warm water. The researchers pointed out that deposition will also be affected by climate change. For example, with global warming, the scale of wildfire is becoming larger and larger, burning trees and destroying soil stability, resulting in an increase in sediments flowing into lakes and reservoirs.

　　On August 31, 2022, in Marble Canyon, Arizona, USA, when sediments were flowing through the Marble Canyon at the lower reaches of Lake Powell, the red sandstone cliff was reflected in the Colorado River. In recent years, the drought caused by climate change has lowered the water level of Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the United States.

　　On August 31, 2022, local time, the Colorado River downstream of Lake Powell in Arizona, USA, was stirred when it passed through the marble canyon.

　　On March 21st, 2023, local time, Luozhou, South Korea, and Luozhou Lake suffered from severe drought, the water volume decreased, and the riverbed was exposed.

　　On February 15th, 2022, local time, Shiquan Lake, 70km away from Malaga, Spain, almost dried up. Officials claim that Spain’s water reserves are currently less than 45% of its capacity,

　　May 15th, 2023, Canelon Grande Reservoir, Cane Lohnes, Uruguay. The persistent drought in Uruguay has caused serious salinization of drinking water in Montevideo and metropolitan areas, and the water level in nearby reservoirs has dropped.

　　On March 4, 2023, local time, Bewl Reservoir, a suburb of Rambohurst, Kent, England. Since March, the storage capacity of the reservoir has steadily decreased, and it is currently 67%, compared with only 42% in October last year.

　　On March 13th, 2023, local time, most areas of French Lake Momber dried up to the bottom. It is reported that there has been no rain in France for 32 consecutive days, which is the longest winter drought since records began in 1959. The abnormal drought has aroused people’s concern.

　　The wet is also drying out.　　

　　When talking about the impact of climate change in the past, many people thought that it would lead to "drier arid areas and wetter humid areas". This latest study overturns the second half of the sentence — — Even in wet areas, a lot of water will be lost, "this should not be ignored." Researchers say that in the past 30 years, whether in humid tropical areas or cold high latitudes, the water storage capacity of lakes worldwide has generally declined. This shows that "the global drought trend is more extensive than previously thought".

　　(Left) On August 25th, 2000, local time, the Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. (Right) On August 21, 2018, local time, the Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. On May 18th, 2023, a new study said that since the early 1990s, due to the high temperature caused by climate change and the social diversion of water resources, the world’s lakes have lost trillions of gallons of water every year.

　　On December 2, 2019, local time, a lake formed by melting water on the Greenland ice sheet began to burst and drain rapidly after being filled with water. Due to climate change, this phenomenon became more and more frequent.

　　In their view, under the general environment of climate warming, the intensification of water cycle may not lead to the increase of water storage in humid areas, partly because of the increase of soil evaporation and the possibility of taking longer to recover from drought.

　　Photo source: Xinhua News Agency, vision china, and 澎湃 Image.