Teams from afar, locals join hands for North China disaster victims

More than 150 civilian rescue teams from around the country have been traveling to the flood-hit city of Zhuozhou, Hebei province, to help with relief efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Doksuri, with strong support from locals seen as well.

He Jun, captain of the Ram Union rescue team, was deeply moved after they rescued five migrant workers from Sichuan province, together with two children, that were stranded on a roof for two days and one night.

They had no food or drinking water and could only drink the water from a solar-powered heater located on the roof. When the rescuers reached them, the mother of the children wept tears of relief, He told cnr.com.

The team consists of 60 members from Beijing, as well as from the provinces of Zhejiang, Shanxi, Jiangsu among other places, and includes 13 rescue vehicles, eight motorboats, 1.5 tons of rescue equipment and a large twin-rotor rescue helicopter.

On Wednesday, they utilized the helicopter to rescue 39 trapped individuals, including a 4-month-old baby.

"What impressed me most was a couple in their 90s trapped upstairs without food or drink. When we carried them out, they were very weak. Thankfully, we arrived in time," said Wang Fangzhen, head of the Heze Zebra Voluntary Rescue Center.

They also donated a batch of supplies from their hometown, mainly instant noodles, bottled water, bread and other items, to distribute to people in need, Wang told cnr.com.

While the rescuers are going all out on the front lines, their local partners are providing support closer to home.

For the Z-Care civil rescue team from Shanghai, apart from the seven rescuers in Zhuozhou, another 11 members are providing operational support from Shanghai, helping them navigate through the flooded areas and devising rescue plans.

As of Thursday, the team had rescued over 200 people, including paralyzed elderly and newborns.

When rescue forces from all over the country joined the relief work, many locals also volunteered to support the arriving teams.

When seeing some rescuers from the Shanxi Tianlong Rescue Team take a break after helping more than 100 trapped people on Wednesday, a local resident brought snacks to their vehicles.

The owner of a local tent factory helped repair motorboats for the rescue teams free of charge, and the principal of a local kindergarten accommodated rescue teams in classrooms.

According to Hebei TV, a youth sought out members of a rescue team from Tangshan, Hebei province, to share chocolates with them, and a mother and son sent them other snacks.

A group of chefs from Qinghai, who run noodle shops in Zhuozhou, spontaneously gathered together to provide free bowls of noodles to those affected by the flooding.

"Seeing that many people did not have hot food for a few days, we just wanted to do something," one of them said in a video clip. On Wednesday alone, they served around 3,000 bowls of noodles.

As emergency rescue operations have mostly been completed, some rescue teams have begun to withdraw beginning on Thursday.

After having successfully rescued 269 trapped individuals, the Ram Union rescue team departed from Zhuozhou on Thursday, sources from the Zhejiang Ram Union Public Welfare and Rescue Promotion Association said.

Ram Union's He said the flood situation has stabilized, and the focus of the remaining operations will be on relocating personnel and delivering supplies.

Many residents lined up along the streets to bid farewell to some rescue teams on Friday, saying, "Thank you and have a safe trip."

Wang Xin in Shanghai contributed to this story.