My personal experience with the 8.8 Jiuzhaigou 7.0 earthquake

I didn’t feel the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake because I was riding a bicycle on the road.

The long-awaited trip to Jiuzhaigou Valley ended up passing her by and I didn’t see her face clearly.

After traveling nearly 2,000 kilometers, I experienced a magnitude 7 earthquake, which is also an indelible memory.

On August 6, we set off from Zhengzhou and started our journey from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou to Huanglong. Arrive in Chengdu around 8 pm on August 6, and contact the local tourist destination to arrange accommodation. On the 7th, I first walked around Chengdu, including Du Fu Thatched Cottage, Jinli, Wuhou Temple, Kuanzhai Alley, the US Consulate in Chengdu, Zhao Lei’s Bistro, etc. The most exciting thing was the experience of riding a bicycle , experienced the unparalleled convenience that shared bicycles bring to urban travel. When you ride a bicycle through the streets and alleys of this city, you will feel an inexplicable sense of intimacy with this city as a stranger, and you will feel as if you have naturally integrated into this city.

Here I would like to share with you a harvest from my trip to Chengdu. It is reported on the Internet that the tavern in Zhao Lei's "Chengdu" is not the tavern on Yulin Road as everyone knows, but another branch of the tavern.

On the evening of the 7th, I received a text message notification from the travel agency. The main message was that the original itinerary had changed due to the road collapse in Maoxian County, and it was necessary to change the route to Pingwu County-Jiuzhaigou. The panda base in the original agreed route was , Dujiangyan can no longer be seen. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. After all, the main destinations were Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong. But when I look back, I realize that this is just like the prologue of a movie and the introduction of a novel. This is how it all started.

Early in the morning on August 8, we got on the bus to Jiuzhai and officially started our journey to Jiuzhai. The tour guide is a Tibetan young man who graduated from Southwest University for Nationalities, his name is Serang Bader. When he introduced himself, he said that he lived in a temple for five years when he was a child and majored in religion in college. The young man is funny, articulate, clear in thinking, and well-versed in routines. After briefly introducing himself, he explained the four-day itinerary, precautions, team discipline and detailed requirements in an orderly and clear manner, and specifically mentioned two things. One is to follow the local customs and respect the customs and beliefs of the Tibetan people. He said: "Life can be reincarnated, but faith must not be tarnished." "Some people do things that tarnish faith under the guise of respecting faith." The other one is about the itinerary. "There are many unpredictable and certain factors in the trip to Jiuzhaigou. You can go wherever you can. A few days ago, a mountain collapsed in Maoxian County and buried two private cars." These words were very exciting to hear at the time. It smelled like a routine, but I didn't take it too seriously.

In this way, everyone rushed to Jiuzhaigou under the leadership of tour guide Bad. Along the way, Bad introduced us to the history of Jiuzhaigou, the customs of Tibetan areas and anecdotes from his 15 years as a tour guide. Inside the carriage Full of relaxation and joy. At about 11 o'clock in the morning, Bader answered the phone with a serious look on his face, "I want to tell you some bad news. A landslide occurred in Pingwu and it is being cleaned up now. However, this call is not an official notification from the Tourism Bureau. It’s not the worst.” Bud's words brought a sense of uneasiness and agitation in the car. Everyone whispered and discussed for a while before becoming quiet. The bus ran for more than an hour. At this time, everyone saw two construction vehicles on the roadside clearing the gravel and soil on the road. They had almost cleared it and did not have a big impact on traffic. Only then did everyone see it. He let out a long breath.

After a simple lunch, our journey continued forward. The water gradually increased and it rained lightly for a while. Passing several hydropower stations of Huaneng Group on the road, green waters and green mountains appeared in front of us one after another, as if Jiuzhaigou was right in front of us. At around six o'clock in the afternoon, Bud began to introduce the evening's itinerary. He would first experience the Tibetan customs and then check in at the hotel. In order to allow everyone to better experience Tibetan folk customs, Bud taught everyone to learn a few simple Tibetan sentences. For example, the Tibetan pronunciation of a handsome guy is close to the Chinese word "sex wolf", and the Tibetan pronunciation of a beautiful woman is close to the Chinese word "sex devil". , causing everyone to laugh. At about 7:30, we arrived at our destination, a place called Longkang, surrounded by mountains, with a gentle slope in the middle. Many houses were built on the slope, scattered in an orderly manner, with a four- or five-meter-wide road The river flows through the middle, and the water is turbulent, which is rarely seen in the Central Plains.

When I got off the bus, the sun was about to set. The weather was fine, with blue sky and white clouds. The sun shone from the mountains to the west and fell to the mountains to the east. I took a photo of the sky.

The subsequent Tibetan customs experience was very rich, including offering khatas, turning prayer barrels, tasting Tibetan specialties, and Tibetan boys and girls singing and dancing. Everyone who had been jostling in the car for a day was very excited about the whole process. After about an hour, the last part of the custom experience was reached in a blink of an eye - dancing around the bonfire. Everyone walked out of the room one after another. Other teams were dancing, and we were waiting nearby. At this moment, the hands of the clock pointed to 21:19.

At this time, I just walked out of the room, stepped down from the steps, and felt the floor shaking. The first feeling in my heart was strange, how could this floor be alive? The ground in my impression does not seem to be made of wood, so why is it shaking? In about 2 seconds, the power was cut off, and it was pitch black. Immediately, someone screamed, there was an earthquake, there was an earthquake. The scene immediately became chaotic. People in the house rushed outside, shouting the names of their family members to each other. Many people turned on the flashlights on their mobile phones to illuminate and look for family and friends. I quickly turned on my mobile phone and saw that there was no mobile signal. Fortunately, my family and I were not far away. I was at the door, and the two of them were not far behind me. We called each other's names, and when we found them, we quickly held hands, telling each other not to panic or be separated. After a moment of panic, everyone saw that the situation did not deteriorate further. The house did not collapse, and no stones or soil rolled down the hillside. Order on the scene was slightly restored. At this time, Bud shouted loudly to our team members and asked us to get to the car and leave this place as soon as possible. People gathered quickly. The driver started the car and wanted to go out. There were many cars and the space was very small. The car could hardly move. At this time, Bud received news that the road to the hotel had been blocked by a landslide. Bud I have no choice but to stay here for now.

After getting on the bus, I found that some people's mobile phones were still working. After asking each other, I found out that only the mobile signal was cut off, while China Unicom and China Telecom were still normal. Only then did I deeply understand the dual The necessity of stuck mobile phone. About 20 minutes later, news came out on the Internet that a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in Jiuzhaigou County, with the epicenter 30 kilometers away from Jiuzhaigou County. But we don’t know where we are? Where is the epicenter? No one knew how serious this earthquake was, so they could only wait helplessly. While waiting, an old lady in her 60s from Shanghai squatted on the ground and cried, probably out of fear. Everyone comforted her and said it was okay, and her mood gradually calmed down.

Perhaps because of the fear of the unknown, everyone gathered around Bud and asked: "Is this often the case here, with earthquakes every three days?" "Can we still enter Jiuzhaigou tomorrow like this?" Bader said with a smile: "Earthquakes here are indeed relatively frequent, and we are used to them every once in a while." "The first earthquake is the most severe. Since it is like this the first time, the aftershocks in the future will become smaller each time." "The water in Jiuzhaigou Valley was so high due to the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake that the doors were not open as usual the next day." Thinking about these words later, Bud should be comforting everyone and calming everyone's panic. At this time, many people wrapped in white quilts appeared. They were sleeping in the hotel and ran out without time to get dressed. Later, someone among them organized a fire in a small square, and many people gathered there to keep warm.

After about an hour like this, a call came. The light temporarily drove away the darkness and brought hope to the people in the darkness. Later, the mobile signal was also restored. I have to complain about the Huawei mate8 phone here. With the same mobile signal, other brands of mobile phones can make calls, surf the Internet, and send WeChat messages, but my mobile phone just can't. I can send text messages. I couldn't hear clearly when I made calls intermittently, and I absolutely couldn't access the Internet. This situation lasted until the next day, 30 kilometers away from the scenic spot, and the mobile phone returned to normal in places with strong mobile signals.

At around 11 o'clock, I received the first greeting text message. My colleagues at work knew that I was visiting Jiuzhaigou and couldn't get through the phone after seeing the news, so I sent a text message to say hello. I immediately responded to the message to report that it was safe. At around 12 o'clock, I received another greeting call, also reporting that I was safe and briefly describing the situation here.

After communications and power were restored, order at the scene gradually returned to normal.

Many people began to stock up on water and food. The entrances to the two supermarkets were crowded with people, and there were also many people charging their mobile phones. At this time, I saw four people carrying a person on a stretcher and quickly carried him to the ambulance. It was learned that he lived upstairs and jumped directly from the upstairs after the earthquake and fell. In addition, we also saw several ambulances driving into the scenic area with their sirens on.

About 1 o'clock, seven or eight armed policemen in camouflage uniforms came to the scene. They said that the Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area might form a barrier lake due to landslides. If there was a breach, our current location might be was submerged, requiring tour guides and local residents to urgently organize tourists to evacuate to higher ground. Under the organization of tour guides and local residents, tourists began to move to higher places. All the doors and windows of the hotels were wide open and empty. Many tourists pulled a white cotton quilt from the hotel to wrap themselves up. There were more and more people like this. , it is said that the Jiuzhaigou government finally distributed quilts to tourists who did not have quilts.

Under the guidance of Bad’s tour guide, we stopped at a higher place, spread newspapers and quilts on the ground, and then sat down against a half-person-high wall. Wrapped in a quilt, I continued like this until about five o'clock in the morning. In the middle of the night, I vaguely heard a rumbling sound, and my wife shouted to get up. After I got up, I looked around and found nothing. It was probably an aftershock. My wife said that she almost didn't sleep all night, and aftershocks like this happened several times during the night. When it was almost six o'clock, Bud called us all up and told us that the road to the scenic spot had been opened and the government had notified us that tourists should be evacuated as soon as possible. We quickly gathered on the bus and began to evacuate the scenic spot. Bud briefly informed us of the situation he had learned. For example, the earthquake had escalated to magnitude 7.0, and the epicenter was in Zhangza Town, Paradise Hotel and Jiuzhaigou, not far from us. People were killed at the performance venue of Eternal Love, and in total there were more than a dozen people killed. In this way, we began to evacuate Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area.

The process of evacuating the scenic spot was basically smooth, but the traffic jam was severe. The hour and a half drive took three hours. My mobile phone signal still indicated that it was a 2G signal, and I could not access the Internet. The moment my mobile phone signal showed that it was a 4G signal, I suddenly received a call from a colleague, asking eagerly how it was going now? Where are I now? Why can't I get through on my phone? I quickly explained, feeling warm in my heart. After the call, I saw more than a dozen messages posted on WeChat, and then received seven or eight more phone calls, all from brothers and sisters from the work saying they were safe. At this moment, my heart was really moved. , when we are in danger, there are so many brothers and sisters who care about us. This emotion is worth remembering in my life.

When I was really frightened, it was when I was watching the news and saw the collapsed houses, the cracked ground, and the cars under the big rocks at the epicenter of the earthquake? Maybe it was because I was in it and couldn't see the danger with a blind eye. , and we were less than ten kilometers away from the epicenter. On the way back, we constantly saw convoys of rescue and transport supplies entering the disaster area. Every time we went to a county or town, there were tents with rescue supplies on the roadside, and free drinking water was provided to tourists in the scenic area. As I approached a gas station in Mianyang City, there was a spot where disaster relief materials were piled up, with a large banner reading "United as one? Earthquake relief." A tourist behind me sarcastically said, "Putting this up here is just for show." ,put on airs". I immediately reminded him: "You were sleeping in the car just now. There were many rescue points along the way, and this one was the biggest."

When the return trip was approaching Chengdu, Bud summarized the two-day trip, "The four-day trip turned into two days, and we encountered a magnitude 7 earthquake, but we were fortunate that we were safe. , don’t worry about passing by Jiuzhaigou, many years later you will find that these two days will be unforgettable memories in your life.” Finally, Bud told us that during the two-day trip, we should be most grateful to the driver. He drove for two days and only slept for two hours a night, but he still ensured everyone's safe evacuation. At around 7pm, we returned to Chengdu safely.

I stayed in Chengdu for another two days and met a classmate who was in the same dormitory at university. In fact, he traveled before us, taking the route from Gannan to Jiuzhaigou. When I saw the photos of Gannan he sent on WeChat, I thought I would meet him in Jiuzhaigou. After the earthquake on August 8, he was trapped in Songpan, and the way in and out was blocked by landslides. At this time, I left a message on the picture he sent, saying, "Actually, I am in Jiuzhaigou." Then, we made an appointment to meet in Chengdu. When they met, both of them felt like they were surviving a disaster.

He said that Songpan was 30 kilometers away from the epicenter. He lived on the third floor at the time and felt the strong earthquake. The earthquake in Songpan was stronger than the Longkang Village I mentioned. We couldn’t explain these reasons. In the end, each person had a bottle of Jiangxiao white.

The two-day experience left too many memories and many emotions. The humorous and responsible tour guide Bard, the unknown driver who did not leave his name, the brothers and sisters thousands of miles away who are concerned about safety, the self-rescue and mutual aid of people in the earthquake, etc. However, I have also seen and heard some unbearable things. For example, some tourists moved many boxes of water from the hotel reception desk to their cars while no one was inside the hotel. During the evacuation, some private cars drove in the wrong direction, causing rescue vehicles to be unable to move smoothly. After entering the disaster area and returning to Chengdu, the tourists had a dispute with the tour guide over the refund issue and beat the tour guide.

Now that I have returned home, I am filled with emotion when I recall the experience of these past few days. People can never predict the future, they can only grasp the present moment. In times of adversity, true love is revealed. The true love around you and the concerns thousands of miles away are equally worth remembering. After experiencing such hardships, can Jiuzhai be reborn and regain its former beauty?

Finally, I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my brothers and sisters who have been caring about my safety these days!