Consequences of the Disaster

by Beate Engelen

The new homes in Woyun Village are almost all finished, traffic is buzzing and people are busy planning their future. It almost seems as if pre-disaster conditions had been restored – things seem even better than before, with all the specially designed houses which will protect the farmers from future earthquakes. But a disaster of this scale is bound to have an impact on the way people think. There must have been changes in people’s outlook on life.

Luo Li has changed - but will it make a lasting difference?

Luo Li, a girl of fifteen from Woyun Village, agreed to talk to me during lunch-break at her school about the changes in her life. She had been among the students who ran for life when her school was about to collapse. All the students made it to safety in time, some carried on the backs of their teachers. These scenes had given Luo Li nightmares and caused occasional sleeplessness right after the event, but bad dreams have by now ceased almost completely to bother her. Life has returned to normal.

It is her and her family that have changed since the disaster, says Luo Li. She remembers that money used to be a common topic in her family, a frequent cause of disagreement between her parents. “But since the earthquake, my parents’ point of view has changed,” says Luo Li. In her view, her parents have become less materialistic, valuing life as such more than before. Change has also taken hold of herself: “I have matured,” she says, “I am less naughty than before.”

Today, she buys her own clothes in Mianzhu and she takes care of the family household, doing the laundry and cooking meals for her father and grandparents. She admits that love in the family is now the most important thing in life.

Discovering inner values

The earthquake, it seems, has become a turning point in common people’s lives. But have people really come to appreciate “inner values” more deeply? Are idealistic motives shaping their behavior more than before the disaster?

Walking around Woyun Village, I certainly got this impression. To begin with, there was a greater tolerance towards expressing a religious belief. Small signs of faith have sprung up everywhere in Woyun Village. Books on Buddhism can now be found on the bookshelves of village officials. A calendar featuring a famous Buddhist monk adorns the office wall of the village heads and the village doctor’s treatment room. Common people openly display objects of so-called folk religions, obtained at a nearby Buddhist temple and hung above the doors in order to scare away evil spirits. These signs of religious convictions are not obtrusive, but they are more clearly visible than before.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, villagers have also eagerly embraced a new communal spirit, which had been dormant for many decades. Communal celebrations of major festivals, discussion groups on village affairs and democratic forms of decision-making in the community have greatly strengthened people’s confidence in recent months – so they say. But does all this mean that Luo Li’s family and all the other farmers in Woyun have found a new placidity? Hardly so.

Money is still an issue

Conditions keep people worried about their future. Like almost everybody else, Luo Li’s family had to build a new house with little money at hand. Although her father was able to do manual work, only her mother secured a paid job. She has worked as a domestic helper in the capital Chengdu, earning around CNY 750 per month. Most villagers who become migrants have less than that on their payroll. Jobs have been lost and wages have plummeted since the global economic crisis began last fall. Post-quake rehabilitation work was still going on at that time. Farmers cannot make up for such losses by selling their agricultural produce. Broken roads, destroyed in the earthquake, have hampered logistics and therefore pushed up prices for vegetables formerly exported to other regions. The farmers have therefore reverted to subsistence farming or to selling potatoes at local markets. Villagers in Woyun say they urgently need better agricultural technology and know-how to avoid being eventually pushed to the fringes of society.

Even if their outlook on life has changed, people in Woyun are still too poor to stop worrying about money and their material future. Despite her young age, Luo Li is no exception. When she was a child, she admits, her dream was to be a policewoman, but lately she has been content with just finding some job soon and raising a family of her own. When she earns money, Luo Li thinks, her relatives will stop worrying and this will eventually improve the relationships in her family.