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SICHUAN PROVINCE, China: The May 12 earthquake that struck China's Sichaun province last year killed more than 69,000 people and injured 374,000, and it also destroyed 10 million homes.
Whole towns and villages are now in the process of reconstruction, with the help of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Shengli village located in Leigu town is the nearest resettlement camp from Beichuan county - one of the worst affected quake areas.
The earthquake flattened Beichuan and killed three-quarters of the population there. Although reconstruction had begun, process is still slow. Getting access to clean drinking water was one of the major problems.
Party secretary of Shengli Village, Xi Zheng Wan, said: "After the May 12 earthquake, our water supply stopped. The government initiated emergency measures and solved the problem in one week, but the September 24 flood ruined the water pipes. We suffered two major natural disasters last year. But Lien Aid, Singapore Water Association and Borouge came to our help by solving our water problem."
It was done through reverse osmosis - water from nearby rivers and mountains was filtered through a system that produced clean water that could be drunk without the need for boiling.
Council member of the Singapore Water Association (SWA), Low Kian Beng, said: "This project was mooted by SWA about eight months ago, and we were very lucky to have Lien Aid and Borouge to come together. We went through quite a lot of fund-raising exercises, and finally a memorandum of understanding was signed by three parties to build this mobile portable water system."
This was also the first time that Lien Aid, a Singapore NGO, worked with a consortium of companies to provide water solutions to communities. The project took three months to complete at a cost of about US$200,000.
Today, it supplies the Shengli village’s community of 10,000 with about 60 tons of clean water.
A resident in the village said: "After the quake, we used to get water ourselves but before long, tap water was available. It is convenient now. We had to boil water previously, but now we can drink it from the tap, it is very good."
Another said: "It's convenient. They built the water pipes in the house, and water comes from taps now."
The survivors at Shengli village are of the Qiang ethnic minority - a close-knit community which saw their town devastated by the earthquake last year.
According to Xi, construction of permanent housing for the villagers would be completed later this year.
- CNA/yt
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