image source,Supplied
An Arina from Europe who works in Chengdu told BBC Chinese that in the past week, everyone could go out to buy daily necessities for an hour within a day or two, but she was always the only pedestrian on the once noisy road. , the whole city was extremely silent under the lockdown (the picture shows the anti-epidemic and disinfecting vehicles spraying disinfection on the streets of Chengdu, the interviewee Arina provided the photo).
“The epidemic gave me the deepest feeling, because earthquakes and high temperature will not limit your freedom, but there are a lot of restrictions under the epidemic. There are many health codes, and you have to scan every code. It is very inconvenient. Take a cool place to escape the heat, or go home and turn on the air conditioner. But the lockdown of the epidemic makes people feel nervous and don’t know what to do.”
This is the feeling of a Chengdu citizen when he was asked about the impact of three consecutive events, including epidemic lockdown, earthquake and extreme heat.
Andy, a 30-year-old native of Chengdu (a pseudonym requested), told BBC Chinese that the strict “static management” (another name for China’s official lockdown and dynamic clearing and epidemic prevention policy) has been in place for more than three weeks. In an interview with reporters, he said that he originally thought that the lockdown would be lifted after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, but now he is still waiting day by day for the unblocking to come.
He said that although he has not been so panicked in the past few days, he is still anxious. “The main reason is that Chengdu has no shortage of vegetables and food, which is a little better than Shanghai, but this time I was really annoyed.”
Indeed, for the citizens of Chengdu, Sichuan, the summer of 2022 will definitely be an unforgettable summer, but the taste is not very pleasant. First, there will be severe summer power cuts, and then there will be epidemic control.
BBC Chinese talked with several Chengdu citizens to learn about their close observation of the natural disasters and epidemic control they encountered this summer.
eventful summer
image source,Supplied
Andy said that September should be the day when school children go to school, and now everyone is trapped in the community. The picture shows the streets of Chengdu (photograph provided by interviewee Andy).
In the summer of 2022, the first is the invasion of the heat. The high temperature and the clear sky with no rain for a long time are becoming more and more severe in the southern part of mainland China. Sichuan and Chongqing, which rely heavily on hydropower, suffer from “power shortages”.
For example, in Chongqing, a big city known as the “stove”, there was once a high temperature of 45 degrees Celsius during the day. People went to shopping malls or valleys to escape the heat, which became a news hotspot. After that, in order to “return electricity to the people”, starting in August, many factories in Sichuan were required to take a “high temperature holiday” for several weeks to solve the health problems that may be caused by the high temperature and the inability of the people to use electricity. The power cuts in factories also hurt the industrial economy.
The sweltering heat will last until the end of August, and the weather will change, with the temperature dropping and rain falling at the same time, temporarily easing the crisis.
However, the challenge of Covid-19 immediately followed.
The rapidly spreading new crown Omicron variant virus began to spread in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan with a population of 21 million, in late August. On August 25, the worst wave of the epidemic in more than two years broke out in Chengdu. On September 1, Sichuan announced that the city would “stay at home in principle” from the evening of the same day, “the end of the closure and control is unknown”, and “static management” will be implemented. Immediately after the announcement, a large number of people took to the streets to buy food and stock up on daily necessities.
So far, the closure and control policy has continued. Many people told the BBC Chinese that they can still order takeaways, and eating is not a problem.
Another powerful earthquake struck Sichuan, killing dozens of people.
However, in the early days of the lockdown, the Sichuanese at home had to face another threat of natural disasters – a strong earthquake. On September 5, an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 occurred in Luding County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, with a focal depth of 16 kilometers and a maximum earthquake intensity of 9 degrees. According to the latest statistics, the earthquake has claimed 93 lives so far, and another 25 people have lost contact.
Even though the epicentre of the earthquake was outside Chengdu, a strong tremor was felt in Chengdu. “Sanmeier”, a citizen of Chengdu who lives in an apartment with dozens of floors, told the BBC Chinese that her house was too high, and the earthquake shook so much that it was too late to run downstairs. In addition, when the earthquake occurred, some people later told the BBC Chinese that the people in the closed community were unable to leave the property or the gate of the community when the sky was shaking, so they communicated with the community management committee and “Dabai” (wearing white protective clothing). The epidemic prevention personnel in uniform) had a quarrel, and the relevant news caused a lot of discussion.
image source,Douyin
Video footage on Douyin showed some residents locked in the building. They asked to go out for shelter during the earthquake.
However, there are also some citizens who claim to be from Chengdu. They left a message on the BBC Chinese Facebook page saying that during the earthquake, the city was very stable, and most of the residents were calm. They believed that the video could not represent the situation in Chengdu at the time of the earthquake.
At the same time, in early September, Weibo and WeChat began to circulate a Douyin video from a Chengdu mother who signed “Yingying”. In the video released on September 4, the mother made a petition to the mayor of Chengdu. She said that during her son’s serious illness on August 2, during a heart attack, a positive case appeared in Huaxi, and her son became a close contact. , requires centralized isolation. After a few days of compulsory isolation, he went home for three more days of isolation, and died at home before seeking medical attention.
The mother said: “Mayor, I called a few times and couldn’t get through. My mood couldn’t be relieved… So I really want to tell you about this, the baby is still young, the family’s The pillars have also gone. Mayor I am also helpless, I am also helpless when I send this Douyin, I hope you can see it.”
According to the “China Digital Times” website, the video was later removed from the woman’s Douyin account, and the video and related keywords on Weibo could not be searched. BBC Chinese could not independently verify the film.
These incidents have once again detonated a heated debate on the Chinese Internet as to whether the “zero policy” is too costly.
Another Chengdu citizen, Mr. Zhang, told reporters that he thought the lockdown measures were “not a scientific issue, but a political issue. This is a system battle… The lockdown is a ‘face project’, and ‘zeroing’ will have How long it will be is unknown.”
Mr. Zhang told BBC Chinese that in Chengdu, most people live in the community, so the local government needs property personnel to help manage epidemic prevention. He said: “Otherwise, there are more than 20 million people, how can the government have enough manpower to control them?”
“Some people in the community are trapped during an earthquake. This is under the current administrative thinking, should we manage the epidemic or the earthquake? Of course, they only manage the epidemic. Once the earthquake strikes, they can’t change it, and they don’t dare to change it. So of course, people can’t let the people. Get out of the house.”
He told reporters that no matter Shanghai or Chengdu, local governments are reluctant to close the city, because they have a lot of economic interests in these places, “but they have no power. For them, it is very unwilling, but there is no way. For example, Shanghai and Chengdu are the same, no way.”
However, there are still a very small number of citizens like Mr. Zhang in Chengdu who do not live in a community where the property can be managed centrally. Therefore, in the early stage of the lockdown, he could find a way to leave Chengdu and go to Chongqing or other provinces to avoid “closure of the city”. crisis.
image source,Supplied
At present, it is not a problem for Chengdu citizens to eat and take out. After everyone can hold the nucleic acid test report, they can apply to go out for one hour a day to buy basic necessities of life. The picture shows the streets of Chengdu (photograph provided by interviewee Andy).
In fact, after witnessing the three-month closure of Shanghai this spring, many Shanghai residents starved and had no access to medical treatment, shocking the situation at home and abroad, Chengdu’s prevention and control appeared to be cautious, like walking on thin ice.
The local government and the public are deeply afraid of the dilemma that will happen in Shanghai, and it will be staged in Chengdu, which also has a population of more than 20 million.
The current closure and control methods in Chengdu are divided into high-risk, medium-risk, low-risk areas and unblocked areas. At present, it is not a problem for citizens to eat and take out. After holding the nucleic acid test report, everyone can apply to go out for one hour a day to buy basic necessities of life. People are still anxious, because the epidemic has indeed seriously affected their lives.
Andy explained to the BBC Chinese that September should be the day when school children go to school. Now everyone is trapped in the community. From time to time, there are reports of children playing in the building, practicing musical instruments, or parents yelling at the children’s noise for hours. Unable to go out to work, he has to endure the noise at home. Occasionally, he was arranged by the unit to be a “big white” (epidemic prevention volunteer), or to apply to go out to buy some air.
Another from Europe, Arina (Arina) who works in Chengdu told the BBC that in the past week, everyone can go out to buy daily necessities for an hour in a day or two, but she is always the only one on the once noisy road. Pedestrians, the entire city is extremely silent under the lockdown.
On Tuesday (13th), Arina sent a text message and told reporters that the community where she lives today has been “micro-unblocked”. She can walk around the community and go shopping in the supermarket. She feels better and looks forward to returning to normal life as soon as possible.
Reflecting on the daily life of Chengdu when the epidemic prevention policy encountered natural disasters, Andy told reporters with a wry smile that when the earthquake happened, the shaking was very strong: “But everyone went downstairs and knew that they had to grab a mask before running out.” It can be said that epidemic prevention has been deeply rooted in the The subconscious of some citizens of Chengdu, known as the “Land of Abundance”, is inseparable from epidemic prevention or escape when natural disasters come.
China’s Sichuan Luding earthquake death toll rises to 66, with 15 missing