For our presentation we talk about the 2012 Beijing flooding, and a lot of people were angry with the things that the government did for the victims.
During my search time, I found a case to prove why the Chinese are so angry.
Near the Guangqumen overpass in downtown Beijing, where the water rose as high as 13 feet, a driver was stranded in his SUV and drowned. The next day, “Ways to Escape from Submerged Cars” became the No.1 daily search item on Baidu after it was reported that the driver had a fractured skull from trying to break the car window with his head, though the driver’s wife later claimed that the injury was incurred when the rescue team broke the car window and accidentally hit the driver’s head.
With more rain expected to fall on Beijing, “life-saving hammers” for in-car use and gigantic, plastic storage bags that can wrap around an entire car have also become hot commodities. Ironically, the 600-year-old Forbidden City was perfectly safe from the flood—zero accumulation of water proved that the ancient Chinese sewer system beats the modern one based on a design by the Soviets.
As more details emerge about survivors’ and victims’ experience in the rain, the focus of attention is now shifting to the city’s emergency response mechanism. Caixin News reported Wednesday that in the SUV-driver case, the driver’s wife repeatedly pleaded for help from the rescue team parked nearby, but it took action only after it heard that “the official had arrived,” according to the wife. Drivers have reported the lack of surveillance near flooded roads, such as the Beijing to Hong Kong/Macau Highway, where a busload of people was stranded before being rescued by local workers. The story of a man desperately searching for his wife while seeing police from both Fangshan and Fengtai Districts shirking their responsibilities, casts further doubt on the government’s reliability in disaster relief.
This is also the reason why people suspect the government response.
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