Villagers salvaged what they could out of the piles of rubble in order to use it again in the rebuilding process.

SICHUAN PROVINCE - Emerging from a pile of rubble, an elderly woman laughed and smiled as she waved her cooking pot in the air.

It was just one more thing she was able to salvage from the ruins of her house that had crumbled just days before.

Following the May 12, 7.9-magnitude earthquake, whole villages were reduced to rubble and the death toll has climbed to more than 69,000 people with more than 5 million left homeless. In the wake of such a disaster, however, people are working hard to rebuild their lives.

"The Chinese take courage to the next level," said David Darg, deputy director of international programs for Operation Blessing. "The human spirit in the wake of natural disasters always amazes me."

Darg, who is on the ground in China, is coordinating reconstruction efforts with area villages that are more remote and less likely to receive immediate government assistance.

"Due to the scale of the disaster there are many smaller villages in more remote areas that have received little or no assistance," Darg said.

In Yao Jin, for example, which is 17 miles from the epicenter, Operation Blessing is on-scene helping the residents start over by restoring their water system and constructing latrines and a bath house. In addition, heavy machinery and jackhammers have been brought in to break up and remove debris. Citizens are working to salvage any materials possible to start over.

In addition to providing clean water and building latrines, OBI also provided funding to construct bathhouses, seen above, for the Yang Yim.

"So much has been cleared," Darg said. "The debris is sorted into piles of reusable materials."

In the village of Yang Yim, 19 of the 700 residents were killed during the quake.

The death toll would have been substantially higher if workers had not been in the fields. This village, too, had lost its water supply.

Villagers were forced to walk 1.5 miles down a steep winding hill, and then carry the water back to their make-shift homes.

OBI installed a generator that is now pumping clean drinking water from the well and serving two villages.

"We try to provide order amid the chaos that a disaster leaves behind," said Bill Horan, Operation Blessing president. "This is a key ingredient that Operation Blessing always brings along with physical relief."

In Yang Yim, several hundred feet of water pipe, a hydraulic jack, shovels, sledge hammers and chisels as well as 1,500 pounds of cement powder and four tons of concrete sand were hauled in.

"Seeing the results of their efforts, the people are now working tirelessly to cooperate with each other and OBI to reestablish their lives and continue on," Darg said. "In this relatively simple but effective way OBI is working as a catalyst for recovery, and inspiring and supporting hope in the wake of great loss."

HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.

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