Picking up the pieces

Employment has been a top priority since the earthquake. In the past year, the Mianzhu labor bureau has offered more than 18,000 public-welfare posts at modest salaries, such as warehouse store work or street sweeping.

Meanwhile, training programs in sewing and construction have covered around 6,000 people, according to Chen Shanyong, the bureau chief.

Jiangsu, which is responsible for the point-to-point assistance to Mianzhu, offered another 50,000 jobs at five large job fairs, and 6,000 locals were taken to the coastal province.

"In spite of the earthquake, we didn't encounter major problems in employment creation last year," Chen says.

But the reality turns out to be less positive. Liu's niece, Jiang Mingyu, says it is difficult to set up her own tailor shop, as she wishes and the government encourages.

"Where can I get the initial funding to launch my business? It's true that they have in place micro credit loans, but the plan targets university graduates or young farmers.

"We don't have cash in the pocket for a change of life, so it's better to stay at home and do nothing as it saves money."

Women face much greater disadvantages. During the day, Chen Mingfang goes to the nearby construction site to do odd jobs like mixing cement or carrying bricks, but even such basic labor is not readily available. "I often move around different places," Chen says, wiping her brow in the kitchen shared by 10 families.

Meanwhile, the re-location of Donggfang Turbine from the Hanwang town of Mianzhu to Deyang City is viewed as a deadly blow, as many small businesses surrounding the large factory had relied on it for revenues. Export-oriented companies like Shengda Clothing and Lonmon Chemicals have been hard hit by the financial crisis.

If jobs are the first priority, then second is housing. "A stable house drives home a sense of security, doesn't it?" says Liu Daishu.

For the moment, the 40,000 inhabitants on Liu's community have no clear idea where their permanent homes will be, as the town plan is yet to be drawn up.

The government of Mianzhu has agreed to provide a 16,000- yuan subsidy to each family, but that is far from enough to build a house, says Liu.

The cost of construction materials is a worry. Bricks have risen from 0.6 yuan to 1.4 yuan in price. Calculated this way, the cost of building a house has reached 820 yuan per square meter, estimates Liu Daishu, "which is unaffordable to most of us".

A survey by Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) of the 1,600 households in Qingping in February suggests that each family lost 60,000 yuan in assets on average.

"The most difficult time the psychological pain is over, but it is replaced by confusion about the future," says Zhu Yuxin, a social work teacher from Sichuan Agricultural University, who heads the Assets-based Community Reconstruction program in Qingping under the sponsorship of HKPU.

"Our central guideline is to explore and integrate the inner strength of the fractured communities, so that effective means of livelihood will be secured.

"Right now, I'm also caught up by the complexity of problems. All that we can do is to make a detailed survey, right from the beginning," he says.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2009)