1st Anniversary of China Earthquake
This is one anniversary that does not have the word “happy” in front of it.
It’s a year since an earthquake of 7.9 magnitude devastated the Sichuan province of China, including the Wolong Panda Base. A year on, I am here in Bifengxia Panda Base where many of the Wolong pandas were moved to in the weeks and months after the earthquake. The last batch to arrive – last month – comprised the panda cubs who’d remained behind, with their keepers, to provide hope and cheer to the place.
Wolong Panda Base is now completely empty of pandas and their keepers. The newly arrived cubs will be a year old in another two to three months’ time.
Today, the media in China and around the world will focus on the earthquake, particularly on the reconstruction. Here at Bifengxia Panda Base, there will not be any special events to mark the one-year anniversary. One of the senior vets told me this is not something they want to remember in any way.
But in a way, the earthquake is being remembered here on the Base, and in a positive way. Instead of standing around and lamenting the loss of Wolong Panda Base, a symbol of giant panda conservation work, the senior staff and the keepers have carried on with the work, with much progress made in the one year since the earthquake. Bifengxia Panda Base stands as a fine example of this progress.
Prior to the earthquake, Bifengxia had been home to the elderly members of Wolong’s black and white population as well as the younger members not participating in the breeding programme of any year. After the earthquake, more than 50 giant pandas were moved to Bifengxia. The Base soon found itself short of housing for its new residents.
Work quickly started on temporary housing – a series of wooden houses, distinctly green, each house comprising two rooms and each room with its own outdoor yard. By the time of my first visit in August 2008, there were green houses on the grounds of the Research Centre and further up the road behind the Centre.
Meanwhile, work commenced on the permanent brick houses. During the same visit, I saw the beginnings of two areas that would house these permanent houses – one was located halfway up Leopard Mountain, and the other next to a green house on a hill at the Research Centre.
Nine months since my first visit, I am back in Bifengxia, and those two areas are complete.
The one halfway up Leopard Mountain – named New Leopard Mountain to distinguish it from the older Leopard Mountain further up the hill – features large glass displays that allow visitors to look into the outdoor enclosures.
The one near the Research Centre is the new breeding centre, an impressive structure comprising 13 indoor enclosures and a roof area with walkways for keepers to keep an eye the breeding going on in the enclosures below. The walkways have rails, which is much safer than the breeding centre at Wolong Panda Base which had none.
Right now is the breeding season, the busiest time of the year in giant panda conservation work. Female giant pandas only come into estrus for a very short period every year. As the vets keep track of who is ready, the keepers stand by to help move the black and white residents into the new breeding centre to mate and then move them out to make room for the others coming into estrus.
The breeding season is not off-limits but open to participants of the volunteer programme. If you visit Bifengxia as a volunteer to the breeding season, you might be assigned to work wiith a keeper at the new breeding centre. Coming to volunteer here is an experience of a lifetime; to get to work at the new breeding centre is the ultimate experience. But that’s just my opinion.
There has been talk about the reconstruction of Wolong Panda Base. The one extensively damaged by the earthquake will not be rebuilt. Instead, there will be a new Wolong which will be located at Genda Town, which is one town before Wolong. It offers the same climatic conditions as Wolong – very close to a giant panda’s natural habitat – but is safer at the same time. The hospital will be built in Dujiangyuan, a large city with easy access to other medical facilities and support.
I plan to be there when new Wolong is rebuilt and reopened. That is, if they will let me.
