As families across China gathered for the Mid-Autumn Festival, the true magnitude of May's devastating earthquake in Sichuan was being driven painfully home to millions in the province who were missing children, parents, siblings or other relatives at this time of reunion.
Four months after the disaster, the final death toll is close to 90,000, with the 18,000 missing now given up for dead. Of the 375,000 injured, it is estimated that some 50,000 have been left with physical disabilities. Three million people living in basic temporary accommodation face the coming winter without enough blankets, clothes and shoes, according to social workers who have visited. In all, some 45 million people have been affected, across more than 400 counties.
Along with the reconstruction of houses, roads, bridges and other 'hardware', there are calls for more resources to be directed towards rebuilding the 'software' of Sichuan - the people, their families and communities, and the collective resilience.
This is the focus of the Catastrophe Management Initiative launched jointly in July by the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Beijing Normal University, one of the mainland's leading institutions for social and public policy, and disaster management.
'While we invest in physical infrastructure, it's equally if not more important to focus on rebuilding the social networks, local culture and values, and on reactivating a sense of resilience,' said Cecilia Chan Lai-wan, of HKU's department of social work and social administration.
Professor Chan was recently in the worst-hit areas of Sichuan, conducting workshops for 700 teachers and students to help create 'a resilient, happy environment' for the new school year and motivate learning. Teaching numbers were depleted and many were traumatised by losses of their own, she said. Some also carried 'survivor guilt' for being alive after their students had died.
