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Quake reveals disparity between China's east, west

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Soldiers help demolish damaged houses after earthquake in Yiliang county, Yunan province, on Sept 15, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chi Kuanyan could not help crying after she was asked why her parents did not take her home after the 5.7-magnitude earthquake last Friday.

The earthquake, which claimed 81 lives in Southwest China's Yunnan province, toppled her family's home in Kuiyang village, Kuixiang town. Her parents, who were working at a factory in East China's Zhejiang province, did not return to see Chi and her sister because of the cost of traveling.

Chi, 17, a Grade 12 student of Yiliang County No 1 Middle School, has only seen her parents twice in the past seven years.

Struggling to support the family, Chi's parents went to the east when she was 10. Chi's parents send 5,000 yuan ($788.6) each year for her and her 15-year-old sister for tuition and a living allowance.

Without a cell phone, Chi was not able to get in touch with her other sister, who is eight, or her grandpa in the village after the earthquake.

Like Chi's family, many villagers in Yiliang county live in tile-roofed houses or thatched cottages on the hillside, which are not strong enough to stand an earthquake. They are also prone to landslides and rolling stones.

Chi's parents contributed to the economic boom in East China over the last decade but their home province of Yunnan in Southwest China, lagged behind. The devastating earthquake has revealed the rising disparity between China's east and west.

Yiliang county, situated in a narrow valley surrounded by mountains, is among the poorest counties in Yunnan province.

The area of flat land, which is suitable for farming and construction, makes up only two percent of the total land in Luozehe town, the worst-hit town near the epicenter, said Tang Hu, the town committee secretary of the Communist Party of China.

The average per capita income for rural residents in the town was 2,788 yuan in 2011, less than 40 percent than the national average, said Tang. Their major income comes from planting corn and pepper.

Yet the average per capita income for rural residents in Zhejiang province, which has a strong private economy, was 13,071 yuan in 2011, almost five times that of Luozehe town.

Different incomes have led to different structures of houses in the countryside, shabby tile-roofed houses in Yiliang compared to popular two-storey villas in Zhejiang.

The poor infrastructure, including roads, hospital, transportation and electric supply also reflect the weak coffers of Yiliang county, which reaped only 400 million yuan in revenue in 2011.

There were only 1,500 registered vehicles in Yiliang county before the earthquake but around 4,500 vehicles from government departments, the army and volunteers swarmed into the county seat, causing traffic jams which affected the rescue efforts, according to the rescue headquarters.

For He Chaoxian, a surgeon of the county hospital, the insufficient medical facilities and personnel, as well as lack of experience in emergency response was regrettable.

Medical bandages ran out within two hours and the number of doctors were far from enough, he said.

"If we carry out craniotomy operations on several patients at the same time, instead of one by one, we can save more lives," he added.

Yiliang county has few development opportunities, so the government pins its hope on the exploitation of mineral resources underneath the mountain.

The increasing number of mines and immigrant workers has put more pressure on the already fragile environment, said Tian Tingshan, executive deputy director of Geological Disaster Emergency Center with the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The population of Luozehe town increased from 55,000 in 2009 to 68,000 in 2011, many of whom are workers from neighboring cities and provinces. The population density of the town is twice as much as that of the province, said Tang Hu.

The overdevelopment of resources has damaged the ecological system and the natural shield against geological disasters has been disabled. The forest coverage of Yiliang county is only 10 percent, much lower than the provincial level of 46 percent, said Zheng Baohua, director of the Rural Development Institute with the Yunnan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences.

Traditional agriculture is no longer attractive to young villagers, who prefer to work in the more prosperous coastal and eastern regions. The remaining elderly people and children are too weak to fight against natural disasters, said Zheng.

Zheng suggests Yiliang county government should move residents living in the mountains to towns and communities and improve the infrastructure, including roads and water facilities.

He also called for the government to shut down small mines and bring in big and medium-sized companies to better tap the mineral resources in a more environment-friendly way.

Developing the forestry in the mountains would help, he said.

Social fairness called for

As China started opening up to the world in 1978, the eastern region was given priority for development. Booming industrialization and urbanization pulled millions of people out of poverty while the western region, especially the rural areas, fell behind.

Although the speed of economic growth in West China surpassed East China driven by the nation's West Development strategy in the past several years, the income gap is widening.

The gap of annual per capita Gross Domestic Production (GDP) between east and west China widened from 6,100 yuan ($962) in 1999 to 25,000 yuan in 2011. The annual per capita income gap between rural residents of the two areas widened from 1,300 yuan to 4,600 yuan in the same period, said Du Ying, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, at a forum on Wednesday.

People living in the east enjoy better services than those living the west in almost every aspect, including education, housing and medical care. Social fairness has been called for by many.

In his speech at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum over the weekend, Chinese President Hu Jintao said China will ensure a system of social equity that features equal rights, equal opportunities and equal rules - a system that offers people equal access to development opportunities.

For Wang Zhonglin, 30, a villager of Luozehe town, whose three homes and three thatched cottages were destroyed in the earthquake, hoped the government would help him find a safe place to build a new house.

"If I were rich enough, I would build stronger houses that could stand at least 7.0-magnitude earthquake," said Wang, a blaster working at the local mines for 10 years.