The Loss in Sichuan Earthquake and
Suggestions after Disaster
1. The Loss in the Earthquake
The Sichuan earthquake had a magnitude of 8.0 Ms according to the State Seismological Bureau of China. The epicenter was in Wenchuan County, Ngawa Prefecture, 80 km west/northwest of Chengdu, with its main tremor occurring at 14:28:01.42 CST on Monday 12 May 2008. Fifty-two major aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from 4.4 to 6.0, were recorded within 72 hours of the main tremor. Preliminary rupture models of the earthquake indicated displacement of up to
9 meters along a fault approximately 240 km long by 20 km deep. The earthquake generated deformations of the surface greater than 3 meters and increased the stress (and probability of occurrence of future events) at the northeastern and southwestern ends of the fault. Official figures (as of May 26, 12:00 CST) state that 65,080 are confirmed dead, including 64,571 in Sichuan province, and 360,058 injured, with 23,150 listed as missing. The earthquake left about 4.8 million people homeless, though the number could be as high as 11 million.It was the deadliest and strongest earthquake to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, which killed at least 240,000 people.
The Chengguan, Chengpeng High Speed and National Highway 318, 108 were blocked. Communication also became difficult due to the damage of approximately 3000 base stations of Sichuan Mobile. The rescue workersĄŻattention is now turning towards the recovery of bodies from the rubble, the number of survival cows in different regions are being counted.
The information provided by Sichuan Dairy Association and other related departments or institutions indicated that:
1) over 90% cowhouses have been collapsed or damaged in quake-hit zones such as Wenchuan, Beichuan, Qingchuan, Dujiangyan and Mianzhu counties. The cow hut had different degrees of damage(The percentage was about 10-40%) in non-focal areas of other cities and counties in Sichuan.
2) The earthquake is estimated to have killed at least 3,000 dairy cows(Chinese Holstein and fortified cows), more than 8,000 cows were injured. And other 30,000 cows were temporarily out of management and treatment due to lack of forage materials, drinking water and rain forest after the great disaster.
3) Milking machines and cold cans couldnĄŻt work normally, the raw milk could not be processed and transported because of the shutdown power and blocked traffic.
4) The chimney of a dairy processing factory in Hongya County has been collapsed, which resulted in the milk production stopped.
5) Clean water couldnĄŻt be supplied owing to the burst of water pipes in Qionglai, Mianyang, Deyang and other places, which seriously reduced the local production capacity.
6) The earthquake affected milk production and made pregnant cattle abortion.
Due to the terrible weather, traffic disruption and the humanitarian relief order, the injured cows could not drink clean water and have medical treatment in time. It is estimated that the death and missing toll of cattle will be continuously rising because of injury and starvation.
The Sichuan earthquake had a magnitude of 8.0 Ms, but the constructions in Sichuan are only against 7.0 magnitude. The cattle house in Sichuan can mainly protect from heat, high humidity, but the protective capability against earthquake is relatively weak, though the structure has been reinforced after the snow disaster. Calves, sick or pregnant cows have the highest mortality because of the high-intensity aftershocks, mountain cleft, landslides, and following interruption of water, electricity, signal and transportation. In the hardest quake-hit areas, the loss of backyard households and large-scale farmers is of little difference. But in regions with minor disaster, the proportion of collapsed area of cattle shed backyard households is over 30% than that of large-scales.
2. Relief Measures and Programmes after Earthquake
At present, the primary task of dairy cattle breeding is to supply clean-up treatments, make up for forage, protect from rain, provide clean drinking water, cure the trauma, prevent epidemic and treat with dead bodies. The suggestion is raise the survival cows with more nutrition, immunization, disinfection and sterilization. Following are the detailed measures:
1) Clean the cattle; tidy up the ruins; reinforce the entire cow shed; cover the roof with plastic sheets to prevent rain leaking; remove stagnant water in shed; drive the cows from the dangerous sheds to open ground; build up some simple plastic sheds to prevent any new loss caused by aftershocks, rainstorm and landslides.
2) Strengthen the disinfection and vaccination measures; treat with dead bodies of cows in environmental way, such as bury and incinerate dead cows intensively; prevent access to market; stamp out the disease after disaster; nurse the injured cows carefully.
3) Resume as soon as possible the provision of clean drinking water, anti-stress agent, such as salt, soda, magnesium sulfate potassium, sodium selenite and multi-dimensional agents, to prevent the high-intensity stress of cattle in continuing aftershocks.
4) Supply forage to cows as soon as possible; get feeding from local resources, such as green fodder which is relatively abundant; cut large pieces of feeding into 2-3cm short pieces, to let cows digest and absorb better; add 2% of urea into concentrate in cattle farms with inadequate supply of the protein to complement the crude protein, mixed concentrate can be the conditional fed.
5) Give pregnancy cattle delivery and postpartum care, assure the yield Shed to prevent wind and cold; fully prepare for cows in childbirth omen; wipe clean the newborn calves timely and keep them warm.
6) Suggest the central government coordinating road and rail sectors to implement the emergency supplies of pressure cakes and coarse particles to serious quake-hit regions from the north, after guaranteeing the humanitarian relief materials transportation.
