Wednesday (12) is the thirteenth anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan, a disaster that killed nearly 70,000 people, many of whom were students in Wenchuan and Dujiangyan, the epicenter. When the serious deaths and injuries in Dujiangyan Juyuan High School security tight. Some of the parents of the students who died said that their rights have changed their lives, but in order to give their children an explanation, they will persevere.
Thirteen years ago, the Dujiangyan Juyuan Middle School was razed to the ground and a large number of students died in the devastating earthquake. More than 100 parents of students who died came back to this sad place on Wednesday.
Parents set off firecrackers, burned paper money and placed flowers and photos of their children on the roadside to pay their respects. As in previous years, public security and plainclothes officers were on standby. The student’s parents, Zhou Xingrong, said the two sides had a dispute.
Zhou Xingrong: “We are not allowed to go in and burn paper money, we are not allowed to go in and set off firecrackers, some parents ask to take paper money to pay their respects, but we are not allowed to go into the original site. We wanted to play mourning music to send our condolences, (the authorities) robbed us of the sound, not allowing us to play mourning music, so we clashed, there were some quarrels, and finally we stalled at the outskirts of the original site, burned paper money and set off firecrackers.”
The authorities closed the road leading to the old school site and put up notices to prevent parents from approaching.
Zhou Xingrong: “The government wrote it, right? The top of the sign is ‘new crown pneumonia virus’ this reason, told us to pay respect to civilization, we are not allowed to enter the original site, more than one (sign), where there are left imports have this sign.”
The families of the deceased lost their health to defend their rights
On the day of the earthquake, Zhou Xingrong witnessed the collapse of the Juyuan Middle School building, and for many years, she could not get out of the gloom of losing her son.
Zhou: “That house collapsed instantly, so I try to avoid recalling those very tragic conditions. The memories are really unbearable.”
In order to pursue responsibility for the tofu-dreg project, Zhou Xingrong embarked on the road to defend her rights, which also cost her her health. She has tried in vitro fertilization, but in vain.
Zhou Xingrong: “Mid-Autumn Festival to the ruined school to pay respect to their children, burning paper money, they were arrested by the Dujiangyan Public Security Bureau and detained for 21 days, since the detention back vision began to decline, I came out of all aspects of health affected, so that it is impossible to do IVF again.”
Another parent of a deceased student, Lu Biyu, is also convinced that her son’s death was a man-made disaster. Over the past 13 years, she has been arrested and detained 50 times for defending her rights, and raising her adopted toddler is the spiritual pillar of her life.
Lu Biyu: “The heart of defending rights has not changed. The reality is that there are many difficulties. I don’t work as hard as I did in previous years because now I have a child and I have to take care of the child and watch his homework, so I don’t have as much energy. Now that I’m older too, in my fifties, I just need them to admit that it’s tofu, that it’s hurting the kids, and come out and admit their mistakes. I’ll feel a lot better, which in my mind that’s all that matters.”
According to public information, the May 12, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake killed nearly 70,000 people, left more than 17,000 missing and collapsed more than 7.78 million houses, including many schools in Wenchuan, Dujiangyan and Beichuan. Many students and teachers were killed because the earthquake occurred during school hours.
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