Sichuan earthquake. Return to ground zero

Admire their brave countenances though, and how they try to get on with life as best they can. Hiding their burden of pain and loss.

I talk to the Mayor in the middle of a dusty street, surrounded by the activity and noise of reconstruction.

“How are the people coping with this trauma?

“They don’t need to be reminded. They are resilient.”

“What happens to the people who cannot cope, and who break down psychologically?”

“We send them somewhere to be taken care of.”

Yes, he is a busy man, charged with the responsibility of reconstructing a destroyed community way up there in a hidden valley on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in West Sichuan. He and his staff have no knowledge, or understanding of the psychological time-bomb they are sitting on.

But it was not the time or place to stand there arguing the point with him.

The Chinese government is doing a wonderful job of reconstruction. In the near future the people will be out of the camps and into new homes: earthquake-proof dwellings which have been provided by the authorities and which will help this traumatised little community to reconstruct lives as well as a village.

I walked around the area and looked into the faces of these walking, wounded survivors.

I can see what the mayor can't see.