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| At 2:28pm on May 12th 2008, three months before China was to host the Olympic Games, the nineteenth deadliest earthquake in Earth's recorded history occurred 19 kilometers under the mountains of Sichuan province in central mainland China. The magnitude 8.0 earthquake caused catastrophic damage to an area of more than 500,000 square kilometres, killing over 69,000 people and leaving millions homeless. An estimated 20,000 people were still missing, buried under the hundreds of landslides that occurred in the mountainous areas of Sichuan.
Forty-seven kilometres from the earthquake's epicenter lies the small rural village of Luoshui (pronounced 'Lore-Shway'). Luoshui is set amongst level farmland at the base of the Sichuan Mountains beside the Shi Ting River and has a population of about 15,000. The village residents are predominantly lower income farming families who work the fields surrounding the village.
Being so close to the earthquake epicenter, Luoshui suffered extreme damage. Three hundred and forty-one residents of the small village, many of them children, lost their lives in the quake. Survivors described the shaking as being so violent that 'standing was impossible' and 'the street moved like a boat on the sea'. Hundreds of buildings collapsed; many of those that remained standing had sustained such intense structural damage that they were too dangerous to enter. China and the world reacted to this catastrophe by sending financial, medical and food supplies as quickly as possible to the most heavily damaged areas in the province.
Prior to this time I had been commissioned by the Chinese Government to hold a 6-month photographic exhibition, aimed at increasing youth awareness of the natural environment, in Dongguan. Following the earthquake, I decided to offer the exhibition, entitled 'Journey of Nature', to help schools in the damaged area rebuild their educational materials. I had two copies printed, rolled them up in long protective plastic tubes, strapped them onto my backpack and travelled by train, plane, bus, taxi and tuk tuk into the earthquake zone to find the principal of the destroyed Luoshui primary school. With phone services in the area being intermittent, establishing initial contact proved to be quite difficult. After days of travel and frustrating negotiations with the local government for access, I finally arrived in Luoshui.
Since the school had been destroyed, it was decided by the volunteers working in the village that the best way to display the exhibition would be to hold public presentations every afternoon in each of the 7 temporary villages that had been constructed around the heavily damaged town area. That way the children could not only enjoy the images but also ask questions and interact with a foreigner, a rare opportunity in this village. Language was to be my next obstacle, as I spoke only limited Mandarin Chinese and the people in this province spoke their own local dialect. They could understand me; however I could not understand them. My sincere appreciation goes to Daisy and her group of volunteers who helped with the translation issues of the presentation and drew out some wonderful questions and comments from the children.
Throughout their ordeal, the people of Luoshui have demonstrated a spirit of togetherness and determination. Their positive attitude towards living in a permanently changed environment, whilst seeming strange to some outsiders, is testimony to their perseverance and is inspiration for all - inspiration to plan, to persevere, to prepare, and to be positive.
Please enjoy images from day to day life in Luoshui, taken as I mingled and spent time with the locals.
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