Secondary: Rapid Response Assemblies


China earthquake
By Ronni Lamont

(This assembly is suitable for adapting to your key stage. Please consult the news websites before you use the assembly for the latest situation, figures, etc.)

Suitable for Whole School


Aim

To provide a brief overview of the disaster in China, and provide students with time to reflect upon the disaster, and the way the Chinese government has moved to help the victims.

Preparation and materials

• You need to be sensitive to children who may have family in this area of China.

• Prepare two readers to read the words in the reflection.

Assembly

1. A huge earthquake struck China on Monday, 12 May at 14.28, local time. The earthquake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, and was felt in cities as far apart as the capital of China, Beijing, and the Thai capital, Bangkok.
   
2. The epicentre was in Wenchuan District, a mountainous and very beautiful area in Sichuan Province, south-western China. A senior official there has called for tents, food and medicine to be delivered urgently, but rock falls and land slips have destroyed the local roads, and helicopters have had to turn back because of appalling weather conditions.
   
3. In the city of Mianzhu, there are reports that up to 10,000 people were buried when houses, factories and industrial plants collapsed.
   
4. A school is said to have crumbled in Dujiangyan city – south-east of the epicentre – and 900 students are thought to have been buried and at least 50 killed.
   
5. In Beichuan District, 80 per cent of the buildings are reported to have fallen down, killing up to 5,000 people.
   
6. Immediately after hearing of the earthquake, President Hu Jintao called for ‘all-out’ efforts to rescue victims, and flew out to the area within two hours of receiving the news.
   
7. Aid is being mobilized but, as with all earthquakes or natural disasters, the death toll is expected to rise as rescuers try to find people trapped in ruined buildings.
   
8. The People’s Army of China has been flying into the affected area, delivering shelter and food. But the weather has been hampering their efforts. People sleep in the streets after earthquakes to avoid being caught in aftershocks, which often bring down buildings damaged by the first earthquake. The night after the earthquake, the weather was so bad that people sleeping out on the streets in tents experienced downpours all night.
   
9. Earthquakes are rare in Great Britain and Ireland, and we have never experienced anything like the scale of this one in China. Aid agencies are preparing to fly in help as soon as possible. Perhaps you could also help by giving to the appeal that will take place. If you know people who have friends or relatives in the area, you can support them at this time of crisis.

Time for reflection

When disasters take place with no warning and thousands of people lose their lives, we often wonder whose fault it is. In the Bible, Jesus reminded those listening to him about how, a long time before, a building had collapsed and killed 18 people. He said that the people who died weren’t particularly bad people; they weren’t worse than anybody else (Luke 13.4). In other words, the collapse of the building wasn’t their fault.

This earthquake was no one’s fault. Natural disasters have taken place throughout history, leaving dreadful scenes of devastation in their wake. The important question is how should we respond? And how should the governments in charge respond to the need of their people?

The writer of this lament understood how people felt in times of crisis.

Reader 1:

My eyes are spent with weeping;

my stomach churns;

my bile is poured out on the ground

because of the destruction of my people,

because infants and children faint

in the streets of the city.

(Lamentations 2.11)

Let’s be quiet and listen to these words.

Reader 2:

In the cities and the countryside of China,

people are grieving for their lost loved ones:

for friends and family who are missing;

for homes destroyed and lives turned upside down.

Reader 1:

In the cities and mountains of China,

people are struggling to survive

out in the wind and driving rain;

hoping for relief to come,

hoping their lives will return to normal.

Reader 2:

We think of these people today.

We are thankful that the Chinese government has acted so quickly to bring relief.

We wonder how we can help too.

Song

‘When I needed a neighbour’ (Come and Praise 65)