As volunteers raise money and send aid packages to flood victims in Fangshan in Beijing, residents in Hebei province are being largely ignored by the media, and their relief effort is proceeding at a snail's pace.
Zhang Zhangong , from Gougezhuang village in Laishui county, which borders the capital, said the rain that hit Beijing and Hebei last weekend had destroyed his life. Almost everything he owned disappeared in the disaster.
'My wife and I and our granddaughter barely survived the storm, which ripped down our houses, swept away our furniture and all of our clothes,' Zhang, 47, said.
Gougezhuang, home to the renowned tourist destination of Yesanpo and famed for its stunning mountain and river valleys, was among the hardest hit by the storm, the worst in six decades. A family of three died in the village.
Zhang, who suffers from rickets, and his wife, are digging through the rubble of their home to try to find money they had hidden.
'We were running for our lives when the flood hit and didn't have time to collect the money we kept in some furniture,' he said.