By Shan Juan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-10 07:31

MIANZHU, Sichuan: Wang Fushan Monday gave a big thumbs-up to the "white box" built in a cornfield next to his current home - a tent in the town of Jiulong, in the mountainous city of Mianzhu.

The box is actually a lavatory - a simple cube over a 2-m deep hole in the ground - the 36-year-old has dubbed the "English toilet".

"That's because it was built by people from the UK," Wang told China Daily at the eight-tent village he now calls home.

An international team, led by four British specialists in safe water and sanitation, with the emergency response unit of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been helping build toilets since the quake hit.

"We plan to build more than 400 toilets, enough for 20,000 people here in Jiulong and a neighboring township," Ina Bluemel, who heads the team, said.

Engineer Mujeeb Aktar said the toilet will be in use for several months until people move into temporary housing, which is under construction.

"They (the team) are doing us a big favor," Li Feng, Wang's wife, said.

"The toilet is tidy and clean and it has a door and a roof to shelter us," she said.

The previous toilet, which was shared by 40 people here, was disgusting, the 32-year-old said.

"In the morning and before going to bed, there was always a long queue," Yuan Li, 12, said.

"Sometimes, my little brothers just peed in the field."

"But that is how the health risk gets heightened," Bluemel said.

During this transitional period following the disaster, the top priority is to ensure good personal and environmental hygiene for survivors, Hans Troedsson, the WHO's representative to China, said.

"The proper disposal of feces and garbage, and the provision of safe food and clean water must come first," he said.

Several miles away, Bluemel's colleagues from Spain, Austria, and France, have been busy purifying water pumped from wells using mobile equipment.

"They're like small-scale water factories that provide safe drinking water," Werner Meisinger, a veteran volunteer in disaster relief with the Red Cross of Austria, said.

The water from the wells contains too many germs, he said.

"The quake, which affected the local ecological structure, might be to blame."

The water-purifying system, which is now in full operation, can provide enough safe water for all of the local population, about 10,000 people.

Resident Fan Jiying told China Daily that thanks to the efforts of the water team, everyone "now has enough clean water".

She said before they came, she had to purify the water herself using special disinfecting tablets. She also relied on bottled water distributed by the local government for drinking and cooking.

"But we peasants are not used to bottled water," she said.

"The foreigners have saved us a lot of trouble.

"It's the first time I have ever seen foreigners in our village," she said.

"And they just came to help."

Zhang Xiao is a volunteer driver who traveled from his hometown of Wuhan, Hubei province, to help the Red Cross team in the mountain town.

"I was deeply touched by the foreigners' devotion," he said.

"Once, when we got flat tire on the way to a neighboring town, Ina got out of the car and helped me fix it in the heavy rain," he said.

"It was nothing, just part of my job," Bluemel said.