Social forces essential in China train crash rescue
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Xinhua, July 26, 2011
The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, on Tuesday praised the country's rising civic awareness as "vigorous" in the rescue work after a high-speed train crash.
Villagers "dashed to the disaster scene" and joined the rescue work immediately after a high-speed train rear-ended another in Wenzhou of east Zhejiang Province on Saturday evening, an article on the newspaper said.
The disaster has left 39 people dead and 192 others injured.
After the accident, witnesses photographed long queues of Wenzhou citizens rolling up their sleeves to donate blood, volunteers helping at a hospital, and villagers assisting in the rescue of those trapped in the train, the article said.
Residents used their own vehicles to transport the injured and various microblogs reported the latest progress of the rescue, it said.
The newspaper said logistical challenges and obstacles mean that sometimes organized rescuers cannot arrive promptly to an accident scene, so ordinary citizens can take the lead in supplementing the security net constructed by the government.
The article harkened back to similar displays of concerted social force by ordinary citizens during the relief work of the Wenchuan earthquake and the volunteer service during the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
Such "social collaboration" has become an effective support of the government and "valuable resources" for social management, it said.
By participating in the rescue work, donating blood and closely following the progress of the rescue, "citizens have their sense of participation and identity boosted," and that helps "bridge the social division" that has already appeared, the newspaper said.
It said two hours after the train crash occurred, thousands of netizens went to a blood station after seeing microblogs proposing blood donations.
About 100 people rushed to the hospital three hours after a post to recruit volunteers appeared on the Internet, according to the article.
But the article acknowledged that the structure of participation should be improved and the effect of organizing "has not yet been maximized."
"Integrating social forces during a transitional period with deep social change is not only an innovation of social management but also a reflection of governance capability," it said.
Therefore, cultivating social organizations and invigorating social forces should become a government obligation, it said.
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