(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-14 07:29

Our deepest condolences to those who have lost their beloved ones in the Wenchuan earthquake.

Our sincerest prayers for the safety of all those awaiting rescue from the rubble.

The earth-shaking tremor has taken lives and razed towns and homes to the ground.

Hostile weather and broken roads have stalled relief workers from accessing the most severely hit areas.

The magnitude of damage, as Premier Wen Jiabao warned time and again in his calls for nationwide involvement, is far more than initially thought. So is the complexity of rescue work.

But the past hours give us reasons to hope for the best possible outcome human endeavors allow for.

TV footage of Wen trotting disaster zones, organizing rescue work on the spot and consoling victims trapped in ruins, have not just drawn tears from the national audience - we are seeing the nation joining hands in defiance of ruthless nature.

Wen has set an admirable example that best illustrates the current leadership's emphasis on public well-being.

On Monday morning, he was seen inspecting summer grain production in Henan Province. In the evening, he rushed to the forefront of disaster relief in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province.

Behind him, we saw how efficiently the Communist Party of China and the government have mobilized rescue and relief efforts. With Wen supervising relief on the frontline, President Hu Jintao and the Party leadership have set in motion a nationwide support network whose efficiency has rarely been seen before.

In a matter of hours after the first quake, whose magnitude was the same as the one that leveled the city of Tangshan 32 years ago, we saw professional rescue squads, People's Liberation Army and paramilitary police troops, and relief materials - as well as Premier Wen - being flown to the disaster zone.

It is no surprise that online chatrooms and bulletin boards are brimming with compliments: Our national emergency response mechanisms have emerged stronger through the tests over the years.

And the heroes now are not only our soldiers braving frequent and relentless aftershocks for the safety of those struggling for life in the rubble.

We are seeing more civilian heroes and heroines from across the country. We see them in ordinary citizens in the disaster areas who survived and are now assisting in relief work; we see them in Beijing and elsewhere in the long queues of young students waiting to donate blood for victims in faraway Sichuan; we see them in numerous people who are contributing their bit without even being known.

They are proving true a commonplace saying that unity of will is an impregnable fortress.

From State leaders to the average citizen, the nation is showing proud oneness. With 1.3 billion hearts of one mind, no difficulty will be insurmountable.

Wen called for calm, confidence, courage, and strong leadership in the face of the test. We are seeing all of them.

(China Daily 05/14/2008 page8)