The day the earth shook in China – and an engineer took life-saving action
- Luo Yong was at a hydropower station with colleagues when a magnitude 6.8 quake struck Sichuan province
- He immediately sought to cut the risk from rising dam waters to villagers below, state media report
Sichuan Daily reported on Friday that at great risk to his personal safety, hydropower station engineer Luo Yong, 41, opened the floodgates of a dam in Luding county, Sichuan province, on September 5, to prevent it from overflowing onto villagers below.
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Deadly series of earthquakes rock China’s southwestern province of Sichuan
When the tremors struck, Luo was with his colleagues in the staff dormitory of the Wandong hydropower station, a facility that regulates irrigation in the area, according to the report.
As the workers fled the dormitory, two were engulfed in a rockflow and killed, it said.
Luo, controller of the plant’s floodgates, sought refuge near the station’s buildings and said he noticed water levels in the dam rising.
According to the report, the dam overlooked several villages, home to hundreds of people who would be at risk if the dam was breached.
Luo said he decided to open the floodgates to release the rising water but the controls for the gates were in a tower 50 metres (165 feet) away and up 10 floors.
“My heart told me to sprint up the collapsing rocks and rush to the [tower],” Sichuan Daily quoted Luo as saying.
“On my first attempt, rocks were raining down and I was forced to go back. After waiting for a while and seeing that the rockflow had weakened, I rushed up for the second time.”
Luo reached the tower and opened the gates.
As the tremors continued, he came across colleague Gan Yu, a construction worker from nearby Dazhou, who had lost his glasses in the chaos.
“I suddenly remembered that the generator of the hydropower station had not been turned off, which was a huge risk, so I rushed to the station with Gan and quickly turned off all the switches,” he was quoted as saying.
The report did not say how many people were at the station but the pair remained there over the next three days, cut off from the outside world and without access to food.
What living on the fault line means for China’s Sichuan province
Luo said he and Gan later walked into the mountains to look for wild fruit and fresh water.
During the search, Luo regained a mobile phone connection and contacted rescuers, who said a unit was heading to the hydropower station.
According to Luo, Gan was distressed and did not have the will to return to the damaged station. He urged Luo to return to the base by himself, so Luo left him with some food and encouraged him to wait for the rescue team’s arrival, the report said.
About 75 hours after the earthquake struck, a helicopter crew spotted Luo lighting a fire in an empty, devastated village.
Luo’s wife and two children survived the disaster but his 86-year-old mother and 60-year-old brother were killed.
Gan is missing. Search and rescue work continues.
Luo’s story is a top trending topic on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
