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CHINA / EARTHQUAKE ANNIVERSARY
STORY: CHINA /EARTHQUAKE ANNIVERSARY
TRT: 2.05
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: MANDARIN / NATS
DATELINE: 10 MARCH 2009, XIHE, CHINA
1. Wide shot, Yang Mei leaves home for school
2. Wide shot, Yang Mei and her siblings walking to school
3. Med shot, Yang Mei and her siblings walking
4. Med shot, Yang Mei and siblings walking
5. Wide shot, damaged old school building
6. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang Mei, student:
“We were in the classroom when the earthquake happened. It suddenly felt like the classroom was moving. We all went outside.”
7. Wide shot, students going into classrooms at Caoyang primary school
8. Wide shot, classroom interior
9. Med shot, Yang Mei reading
10. Med shot, Yang Mei and friend playing during recess
11. Wide shot, workers building new toilet facilities
12. Med shot, workers building new toilets
13. Wide shot, Gansu valley panorama
14. Med shot, doorway of damaged building
15. Wide shot, children outside temporary classrooms shot of school
16. Med shot, interior of classroom, students arriving
17. Close up, student writing, listening
18. Med shot, teacher leading pronunciation lesson
19. Close up, girl reading words in pronunciation lesson
20. Med shot, students in class
21. Close up, girl with head on her desk
22. Med shot, Yang Mei reading in class
23. Close up, Yang Mei reading
24. Med shot, Yang Mei and classmates doing exercises outside school
25. Wide shot, students doing exercises
26. Med shot, Yang Mei exercising
27. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang Jianguo, father:
“Aren't they all the same? But Yang Mei, she is really clever, and her body is not in good health so we want her to study.”
28. Wide shot, children going home from school in a single line
29. Med shot, children passing on way home from school
Before sunrise, six-grader Yang Mei and her younger brother and sister leave for school in rural Gansu province.
The impact of last year’s devastating Sichuan earthquake can still be felt here in Xihe county, some 300 kilometers from the epicenter.
The roof of Yang Mei’s home collapsed. And her school was seriously damaged. It didn’t collapse, but its buildings were deemed unsafe for studies.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang Mei, student:
“We were in the classroom when the earthquake happened. It suddenly felt like the classroom was moving. We all went outside.”
Yang Mei and the other 250 students at Caoyang Primary School now study in temporary classroom buildings installed by UNICEF.
They’ve also received new school bags and hygiene kits, as well as sports equipment for class breaks. The school will soon be receiving proper sanitation, with the installation of new toilets and washrooms.
Though Gansu didn’t suffer the widespread devastation inflicted on Sichuan, it has seen more than six thousand school buildings damaged beyond repair, with few resources of its own to deal with the problem.
UNICEF is also working to train hundreds of teachers across the province to introduce a child-friendly school approach, which involves more interactive teaching methods, community participation and stresses equality between girls and boys.
For young people like Yang Mei, education makes a vital difference. She suffers from congenital heart disease, and underwent expensive heart surgery last year.
Her family is determined to help her stay in school, so she can have an equal chance as her brother to choose her own future.
SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang Jianguo, father:
“Aren't they all the same? But Yang Mei, she is really clever, and her body is not in good health so we want her to study.”
A year after the earthquake, aid for schools is helping girls and boys in rural China finish their studies, regardless of disaster, or disability.
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