Joining Hands in Rescue Mission in Zhengzhou

The Xiong'er River in Zhengzhou, Henan province is inundated with floodwater, as a result of continuous heavy rainfall, on July 21, 2021. [Photo by Shi Baoyin/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Central Chinese city of Zhengzhou in Henan province experienced the biggest rainstorm last week, leaving several dead and missing.

The flood has affected more than three million people across the province and forced thousands to be evacuated. The rainfall also damaged crops and a direct economic loss of billions of yuan. However, the city is now getting back on its feet.

When the city was hit by the calamity, the people never lost hope and showed full trust and pride in their government, the provincial government showed full support to the people and kept them updated, every citizen was aware of the emergency helpline which stayed open without a break in case anyone needed help. Nearly everyone, including those without access to electricity, was kept aware of latest rescue missions, availability of aid and other developments thanks in part to the volunteers .The social media was also very active across the whole country in helping share information through online platforms.

Meanwhile, the rescue teams cooperated with full capacity throughout the city, day and night. A complete monitoring was done through drones too, and the people were asked to switch on their phone lights or wave their hands up in case if anyone was stranded or needed help.

The citizens themselves were very active in this whole period and almost every person showed the spirit to help others.

The country showed full support to the city and sent inspiring messages to keep the moral high and showing the whole city that they were with them. The celebrities, famous personalities, famous platforms and even ordinary citizens donated actively.

Zhengzhou is home to many foreign citizens. In such a difficult time, the foreigners were not left alone, the government and citizens showed full support to the foreigners in case they needed any kind of help and were kept updated timely despite the language barrier. Many foreigners living in this city for many years also presented volunteered actively and cooperated with the people and showed their positive response toward the situation. As the owner of a Pakistani restaurant, I kept my restaurants available for free food and shelter for those stuck outside that horrible night. My team and I kept serving the whole night, taking care and helping foreigners and Pakistanis who had language barrier communicate with rescue teams.

Once again, this country proved that whatever hard situation maybe, they stay together, fight together, and win against the battle. The unity and strength, hope and trust can be seen in every citizen in this country.

Shafiq Ahmad Khan is a graduate of Zhengzhou University and currently has a chain of restaurants in Zhengzhou.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.