of mulberries and mustard seeds: Yushu

  As many of you may know, there was an earthquake that hit Western China a few weeks ago on April 14th. One of the towns near the epicenter of the earthquake, Yushu, was destroyed. Thousands have died, and many more are injured and grieving the loss of loved ones. Medical relief teams have been pouring in to help, both Chinese and non-Chinese. I went in with two other colleagues last week to help but we were detained in the capital for a little bit due to restricted access to the road leading up to Yushu. However, we were able to make it up to Yushu! After a 30-hour truck ride to Yushu, we arrived in time to help relieve some of the other doctors who had been there already for about a week. We joined a team of relief workers sent in by a local non-profit organization called Plateau Perspectives. After working two full days, we were asked to close the medical camp because the government was setting up local hospitals for the people of Yushu.
  Most of our patients that we saw were either Tibetan, Hui, or Han Chinese. Many did not speak Putonhua (Mandarin) and interpreters were necessary. Thankfully, we had some wonderful interpreters available who worked alongside us and it was a joy to work with them because they always had great attitudes!
  Fortunately, most of the emergent problems had already been seen and taken care of in the early aftermath of the earthquake. By the time my team arrived, patients were mainly being seen for chronic conditions such as hypertension, headaches, stomach problems, back pain, etc. However, there was also a lot of anxiety, fear, and stress associated with the earthquake, too.
  I wish I had seen what Yushu looked like before the earthquake. Now, there are tents everywhere lining the streets and people walking around with just the clothes on their back. Some buildings are still standing with large cracks down the walls. Piles of stones are everywhere. Various relief organizations have been passing out food and clothing throughout the city. Trucks filled with supplies continue to dot the road up to Yushu. Our campsite was able to set up a water filtration system that filtered the nearby brown river into clean water for the people around us.
  Although there has been so much devastation here, it has been incredible to see how many various organizations have come together to help this city! Communities in the capital have come together to send up supplies and workers. Various religious, political, and ethnic groups have worked side by side to provide aid. There is a sense of unity and cooperation in working to help rebuild this town.
  If you would like to continue to keep tabs on how Yushu and the earthquake relief work is coming along, check out http://yushuearthquakerelief.com/. This link is through Plateau Perspectives.

The truck that we rode up in, piled high with supplies. As I mentioned above, it took us 30 hours to drive from the capital up to Yushu. Typically, it should only take about 12-14 hours. I'm not sure why it took us 30 hours, although I have a few guesses - it was our driver's first time to drive to Yushu, the road was in terrible condition with huge potholes and cracks every few feet, we were going about 20-30 km/hr (seriously! I was sitting right next to the driver and had a pristine view of the speedometer). Thankfully, we didn't hit any bad weather or have any car troubles...otherwise, who knows when we would have arrived in Yushu!

My teammates, Peter (our team leader) and Zeb, in the backseat of the truck. There were 6 of us total, 3 in front and 3 in back. The blue pillows in the back are oxygen pillows for altitude symptoms. Unfortunately, Zeb ended up in another medical camp once we arrived in Yushu so we didn't get to see him very much.

Our taxi driver.

The highest elevation during our trip. Yushu is about 4000 meters (12000 feet). Altitude sickness was a serious concern for all the workers in Yushu. Symptoms can range from minor effects of headache and weariness to more serious conditions such as cerebral and pulmonary edema. The only true cure is to go down to a lower elevation. Our team started taking preventative medicine days before we arrived in Yushu and, thankfully, suffered only some headache and weariness. The air is also thinner at higher elevations, which means it is more difficult to get enough oxygen with each breath. Simple activities, like walking or running, can easily cause you to become short of breath and feel winded. I felt winded just going to the bathroom!

Here is the water filtration/purification system that was set up by our camp! You can see the river in the first picture where the water came from.

A Buddhist monastery on one of the hills of Yushu.

The river near our camp site. I later found out that this river also receives the sewage waste.

Our camp site from the back. The large blue, green, and white tents were where we saw patients, kept medical supplies, and ate. The small blue tent in the center was my tent.