Rescue (1)
I love you
The earthquake occurred at two o’clock in the afternoon, with the golden rescue time being only 72 hours.
Half an hour after the quake, the leadership of the First Affiliated Hospital contacted the Earthquake Bureau and Health Bureau, and after confirming the information, immediately established an anti-earthquake disaster relief leadership group to deploy and start rescue work.
One hour after the quake, the entire hospital initiated the emergency plan for sudden public health incidents. Medical personnel on vacation or outside returned to the hospital, and all medical personnel stayed at their posts awaiting orders.
The procurement department quickly went out to purchase large amounts of disinfectant, gauze, masks, and other materials.
Three hours after the quake, all ambulances from the warehouse were dispatched, with medical materials loaded into the vehicles.
The neighboring province began transferring wounded from the disaster area to medical organizations in Jiangzhou City. Helicopters successively landed on the rooftop helipad of the First Affiliated Hospital building, rumbling loudly.
At the entrance of the emergency department, large lighting lamps were installed, and warning lines were set up to create a special green pathway for transporting the wounded.
To prevent an upcoming shortage of beds, staff from the general affairs department set up temporary blue tents in the open space in front of the emergency department.
In front of the hospital’s main entrance, a white medical supplies support vehicle was parked, waiting for the rescue medical team members to gather.
In the wide-open area, white-clad figures surged.
Some people bid farewell to their wives, some to their husbands, some to their children, and others watched the commotion.
Some doctors, just off the operating table, received notice to join the medical rescue team. They did not have time to go home or inform their families, picked up the hospital-issued supply bags, took their documents, and directly boarded the vehicles.
Wei Mingming brought Zhang Yue, squeezing through the crowd.
Zhang Yue continuously stuffed compressed biscuits, mineral water, and tissues into Jian Qing’s supply bag: “Senior Sister, I just met Deputy Hu; he didn’t have time to see you off. He asked me to tell you to pay attention to safety and return safely!”
Hu Jianjun was still running around the hospital, directing work.
Jian Qing responded, “Good.”
She was brought up by Hu Jianjun single-handedly, growing from a junior doctor under his guidance to a doctor capable of handling things independently.
This afternoon, when Hu Jianjun notified her to go to the frontline, he didn’t use many warm words, but instead ordered in a serious tone, “You are my student, and you are on the first batch list. You need to go to the front.”
Wei Mingming hung a safety talisman around her neck: “Grandma Liu’s family from bed 14 heard you are going to the disaster area, so they specifically went to a nearby temple to ask for a safety talisman for you and wanted me to hand it to you.”
Jian Qing pinched the safety talisman: “Say thank you for me.”
Lu Yinxi remained silent, with her head down checking the supplies bag issued by the hospital.
Inside the supplies bag, there was a first aid kit, rain boots, a raincoat, a tent, a sleeping bag, a flashlight…
It was missing female products.
She ran to the convenience store in basement one, bought a few packs of sanitary pads, stuffed them in, and just as she zipped it up, she heard the urging call.
The deputy secretary of the hospital’s party branch, one of the vice presidents, Zhang Qin, personally led the team on the expedition, carrying the red flag of the 【Jiangzhou University First Affiliated Hospital Earthquake Relief Medical Team】, and shouted through a megaphone: “Comrades, personnel gathered, all board the vehicles, prepare to depart!”
“I’m leaving.” Jian Qing put on a mask and calmly looked at Lu Yinxi.
Lu Yinxi also looked at her, with thousands of words blocked in her heart, unable to say anything.
Jian Qing waited a few seconds, and when she didn’t hear any words from her, she reached out, embraced her shoulder, hugged her briefly, then neatly lifted the supplies bag, and boarded the vehicle.
Lu Yinxi watched her leave.
That day, she wore a pair of black hiking shoes, a black quick-dry shirt underneath, and a long-sleeve white lab coat over it, with an ID badge hanging on the white lab coat.
The physician qualification certificate and practice certificate were all kept close in the pocket to prevent any accidents where identity or unit cannot be identified.
With every departure, the worst plan is not returning.
Four hours after the quake, at six o’clock in the evening, the first batch of rescue personnel from the First Affiliated Hospital all gathered, boarded the vehicles, and departed to rush aid to the disaster area.
They were all listed in the hospital’s emergency plan as the first echelon of rescue personnel.
Those living close to the hospital could still return home to pack their luggage and say goodbye to their families.
For those far from home, only one or two scattered colleagues were there for the send-off.
Some people also registered temporarily, wanting to be on the frontline as soon as possible.
On the vehicle, some were making calls to contact family, telling them about hidden private money and bank card passwords; some were calling colleagues to hand over patient situations; some sat with serious faces, silent in their seats.
Secretary Zhang Qin was holding a megaphone: “We will soon head to the airport, take a plane to S Province J City airport, and after getting off the plane, transfer to a bus into B County and the countryside to carry out rescue work. The local signal equipment is almost completely destroyed, with no internet or signal, and repairs are still underway. If anyone now has people they need to contact or things they need to explain, quickly do so now!”
After these words, even more people took out their phones.
Some people even began to write their wills.
This is the last moment allowed for them to be weak; once they arrive locally and put on the white lab coat, weakness is no longer permitted.
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Jian Qing quietly looked out the window.
After hesitating for a long time, she edited two messages and sent them to Lu Yinxi.
The first message: 【L City Third Hospital, attending doctor Fu Yan, patient Ruan Sheng, my mother.】
She entrusted her mother to the only person she trusts.
The second message: 【The home safe password is the same as the bank card password I gave you.】
All her property and assets were also entrusted to her.
Lu Yinxi saw the message and no longer felt any resentment or sadness, quickly typing a reply.
The first message: 【Received.】
The second message: 【Doctor Jian, I love you.】
An unexpected confession…
With only a few words, Jian Qing looked at them repeatedly for no less than five minutes.
After staring at them for a long time, she looked out the window and revealed a long-missed smile.
As the sky gradually darkened, there were successive definite official news reports, and ordinary people gradually realized the seriousness of the situation.
A huge natural disaster had descended on this world.
Lu Yinxi drove the car, wandering aimlessly through the city streets.
In the car radio broadcast, the announcer reported the situation with a hoarse voice: “At 2 PM, an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred in B County, S Province, located at north latitude xx degrees and east longitude xx… The entire country felt strong tremors… Up to now, the first batch of People’s Liberation Army stationed troops and the first batch of medical rescue teams have entered the disaster area… Traffic roads are blocked, so please, social vehicles do not go…”
Lu Yinxi looked out the window.
Looking up, on the flyover, one fully loaded supply truck after another, along with ambulances and police cars, were heading towards D City, which borders the neighboring province.
Looking down, beside the roadside green belt, there was a blood donation love house with small red lights.
She found a place to park, got out of the car, and walked over to donate blood.
In the coming days, blood will become one of the scarce items, and by then, central blood stations nationwide will appeal to kind-hearted people in society to donate blood.
She is not a medical student now, nor is she a doctor, just an ordinary citizen.
An ordinary person, in the face of a great disaster, can do nothing more than donate blood and money… contributing a negligible amount of strength.
Due to being dizzy from blood, she kept her eyes closed during the blood-drawing process.
The nurse drawing blood comforted her with a few words and gave her some mint candies.
She smiled and thanked them, walking dizzily out of the blood donation house, standing on the sidewalk, somewhat confused.
After Jian Qing left, her heart felt empty, not knowing what to do next.
She saw hundreds and thousands of taxis on the road, still driving in the same direction, mixed with some private cars.
At the intersection, there was a traffic police officer directing traffic.
She walked over to ask: “Comrade, hello, may I ask what all these taxis are going to do?”
The traffic police officer loudly said: “They’re all going to pick up the injured from D City. Little girl, you should quickly go home, it’s about to rain! Traffic control will soon be implemented here as well!”
Lu Yinxi nodded in thanks, walked a few steps, steadied herself, and had a goal in her heart.
She started her car and joined the fleet of taxis.
Driving from the city to the highway, she could see a continuous stream of taxis, ambulances, and police cars flashing their emergency lights, converging into a river and illuminating the entire highway lane.
The on-duty traffic police at the roadside watched the incoming flow of traffic, stood firm, stood at attention, and saluted all the drivers.
Thunder roared, and not long after, a sudden downpour came, with the distant sky completely pitch black, occasionally streaked by flashes of lightning.
The car headlights pierced through the chaotic rain, and the rain hit the car window glass, creating a series of crackling sounds. Lu Yinxi looked at the swaying wipers, her brows tightly knit.
The heavy rain after the disaster is no different than adding frost to snow for the people in the disaster area.
The road Jian Qing has to take will not be too smooth.
Lu Yinxi used voice command to call the smart assistant on her phone, opened the phone’s communication tool, and looked at Jian Qing’s avatar.
The avatar darkened.
There is already no network over there.
Lu Yinxi did not dare to dial her phone, afraid of affecting her work.
Perhaps, it might already be unreachable.
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She had to focus on driving, moving with the traffic flow, heading together towards D City.
The tremor in D City was stronger than in Jiangzhou City, with many houses collapsed. Some people were injured by the falling buildings, bleeding profusely; some jumped from high buildings and broke their legs; some were buried under the ruins, waiting for excavation.
Those with severe injuries, needing medical equipment support, were sent onto ambulances and transported to top-tier hospitals; those with lighter injuries were simply bandaged to stop bleeding and transported by taxis and private cars to the nearest hospital from D City.
Second Affiliated Hospital, Provincial Hospital, People’s Hospital…
It was not until three o’clock in the early morning, during the fourth trip of transporting the injured, that Lu Yinxi returned to the First Affiliated Hospital.
At the entrance of the emergency department, all the illumination lights were on, bright as daylight.
The entrance was full of doctors, and as soon as the car stopped, doctors were pushing carts over, carefully lifting the injured into the hospital.
Later, when the carts were not enough, the medical staff directly used their hands to carry.
“Come, be careful.”
Lu Yinxi recognized one of the doctors carrying people: “Mingming!”
Wei Mingming then turned her head, clearly saw the female driver’s face, and called out: “Xiaolu!”
“You were transferred to emergency?”
“There are too many injured! The emergency department is almost collapsing! There aren’t enough people, so young doctors have all been transferred over!”
After hurriedly saying this, Wei Mingming had no time to pay attention to Lu Yinxi and pushed the patient into the emergency department.
After a night of sleepless and restless long-distance driving, Lu Yinxi was so tired she could hardly open her eyes. Knowing she was unable to transport again and fearing an accident from fatigue, she drove back to the apartment across the road. In the underground parking lot, she laid her head on the steering wheel, dozing for about ten minutes before regaining some clarity. She dragged her tired body upstairs, collapsed on the sofa, struggled to set the alarm for 7 o’clock, and fell asleep.
All airports in J City were closed, only responsible for transporting supplies, troops, and medical teams.
At the seventh hour after the earthquake, at nine in the evening, the medical team from the First Affiliated Hospital arrived at J City’s airport. From there, they took a bus departing towards the national road from J City to B County.
On the road, they met a photographer with the surname Wu and a TV station reporter named Zhang, who were holding reporter credentials and wanted to go with the rescue team to B County town. Zhang Qin happily agreed.
The photographer, carrying a camera, began filming and recording scenes from the bus.
Reporter Zhang conducted a simple interview with the team leader, the secretary, and the medical personnel.
Outside the bus, heavy rain was pouring, and the mountain road twisted and turned; on the left side was the rolling river, and on the right side was a steep cliff, with continuous aftershocks on the road.
Rocks, trees, and mud continuously rolled down from the mountain, forcing filming and interviewing to be interrupted, with everyone on edge. The photographer used his body to tightly protect the equipment.
The bus driver saw white smoke emitting from the cliff and quickly stepped on the accelerator to speed up, allowing the bus to quickly rush out of that road section.
The next second, mud mixed with rocks rumbled down from the mountain, drowning out the car engine’s noise.
The driver, still terrified, exclaimed: “A landslide, almost lost our lives on the road!”
Mountain landslides and mudslides are common secondary disasters after an earthquake.
Everyone turned back to look, and the mountain road was already completely blocked, leaving everyone with lingering fear.
After driving another section of the road, they saw several green military supply vehicles stopped ahead.
The road was blocked by landslide mud and rocks, and cars could not drive through.
The People’s Liberation Army informed them: “Half the mountain has collapsed, and the road has cracked open. There’s no way to drive over; our people climbed over and took assault boats across.”
Several PLA soldiers were injured in the aftershocks.
The medical team got off the vehicle to treat and bandage the injured.
They had not yet entered the core earthquake area, but already a few scattered soldiers had sacrificed themselves on the way to the rescue.
After negotiating with the troop’s leader, Zhang Qin returned to inform everyone: “Everyone get off the vehicle, do not take personal luggage or items. Distribute the medicines from the vehicle to each person. We will first take the assault boat via the water route to an aluminum factory, and then walk from the aluminum factory into the town!”
Jian Qing put on a raincoat and rain boots from the supply bag, discarded all personal items, and filled the space with a large amount of medicines and small medical equipment before sitting on the assault boat.
Reporters and photographers were not brought along, as there was no strength to take care of them. They stayed behind with part of the PLA, waiting in front of the blocked mountain road for it to be cleared, to facilitate the future transport of supplies.
Mountain rocks continuously rolled into the river, creating loud splashing noises.
This time, without the vehicle roof blocking the view, they faced the disaster directly, which was shocking.
The medical team members were both cold and tired, huddling together for warmth and encouragement.
At midnight, the tenth hour after the disaster, the medical team got off the assault boat and arrived at the aluminum factory.
The aluminum factory buildings had all collapsed, and the surviving disaster victims, expressionless, supported each other as they walked towards the outskirts of the mountain.
When people reach the extreme of grief, they have no expression; their gazes are dull, wanting to cry but having no tears. Upon seeing the medical personnel in white, they do not know to come for treatment; they just walk forward blankly, mechanically moving outward, urgently wanting to escape this place.
Seeing the injured, bleeding disaster victims, Zhang Qin instructed the team members: “Quick, bandage them!”
The medical team distributed medicines to them, helping to stop the bleeding and bandage their wounds.
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More and more disaster victims regained their senses and gathered around, asking the doctors and nurses for help in treating their wounds.
The surviving people here mostly had minor injuries, so the medical team did not dare to delay too long.
Zhang Qin explained to the disaster victims: “We received news that there are more seriously injured people in B County. If we are late, the people there may lose their lives at any time. Please understand…”
Everyone in the medical team, carrying backpacks weighing over 30 jin, began to walk forward.
They crossed rivers when they encountered water and climbed mountains when they met them.
After the rain, the mountain road was slippery, accompanied by aftershocks and rolling rocks, risking being hit, buried, or falling into the river. After walking for more than five hours, everyone was distressed by hunger and cold, with blisters on their feet, and their cheeks and necks scratched by trees, leaving blood marks.
Everyone was in a sorry state, exhausted, with their mental state near collapse, feeling helpless and in despair.
They were almost in despair because they could not see any hope.
There was no hope of saving people, no hope of returning, and they might die on the road at any time.
At six o’clock in the early morning, the sixteenth hour after the earthquake, they reached a cracked flat road. There were no high mountains on the left side, and no danger of rocks or mudslides, so Zhang Qin let everyone stop and rest in place for fifteen minutes.
Some people sat down and sobbed; some lay on the ground and fell asleep.
Among them, some had experience with the SARS anti-epidemic efforts, and some had foreign aid experience. They were responsible for comforting and encouraging the team members without experience.
Jian Qing sat on the ground, silently drank water, ate compressed biscuits to replenish energy, and then, back to back with teammates, closed her eyes to sleep.
The author has something to say:
Okay, both people are asleep, so everyone else should sleep too. Good night~~~
Ps: I only have experience with anti-epidemic efforts, but not with earthquake relief. During the 2008 earthquake, I was still studying, so I referenced anti-epidemic efforts and consulted a senior in the office with earthquake experience, as well as read related news reports from that year. Speaking of which, the 2003 SARS outbreak was a milestone event in the development and construction of our country’s disease control system, and the 2008 earthquake was a milestone event in the perfection of our country’s major disaster emergency rescue system. After 2008, medical students were required to study disaster medicine. The hardships and sacrifices of the early years accumulated a lot of valuable experience for later sudden public health events.