Chapter 52: Public Participation in Disaster Relief Operations
The thick sludge gave off a foul smell.
As soon as the sun came out in the early morning, people in the building took tools to clean up the sludge.
After breakfast, Xia Xiaoman went to Wen Jianfeng's house as usual to practice throwing knives and boxing. Xiao Jianzheyu and the others were there too, and the three of them stood side by side on the balcony behind them, doing horse stance, just facing the community.
Xiao Zheyu's legs were shaking like Parkinson's disease. In order to divert his attention, he chatted with Su Ran next to him.
"Huh, there are quite a lot of people digging out sludge in the community. It seems like there are people digging out sludge from every building."
"You're not going to dig the mud, why do you care so much? Shut up!" Su Ran said quickly, took a deep breath, held it, and gritted his teeth to insist on doing the horse stance.
Xia Xiaoman walked up to them, straightened her back, slowly squatted down, and also took a horse stance, "You think they want to dig up the sludge? If it's not absolutely necessary, who would be willing to clean up the dirty and smelly sludge."
"Not as a last resort? What do you mean?" Xiao Zheyu asked.
Zhou Qiuyang beside him said, "Maybe he had to go out for some reason, so he endured the stench and dug the sludge."
Xia Xiaoman looked ahead and said, "Not everyone has enough food and drink like us. The people in the building should not be short of food for the time being, but the same cannot be said for water."
The reason why they had no shortage of water was that when they were looking for supplies, Wen Jianfeng did not mind the effort and brought back all the basins and buckets from the supermarket attic. The four families shared a lot of containers and filled them with water, so they had no worries about drinking water.
But other people may not have so many containers to store water, and the water they store may only last for three to five days at most.
A person can survive without food for up to 7 days, but without water, he can only survive for three days at most.
In order to survive, they had no choice but to dig out the mud, clear the road, and find a way out to find water. Otherwise, who would be willing to clean up the mud that might contain rotting corpses?
Xiao Zheyu's mind came to a head. "No wonder the people in the building are so active. I was wondering yesterday, these people changed so quickly!"
"Some time ago, you were selfish and annoying people who always wanted to steal our supplies. How come now that the rain has stopped and the sun has come out, you have become good citizens who are united and friendly and actively contribute to the country and the floating city? The contrast is too great."
Xia Xiaoman glanced at him with disdain, "Brother, remember, the world is bustling, all for profit. If there is no profit, who would bother with you?"
Xiao Zheyu was unhappy, "Sister, don't be so mercenary. Aren't we on the 15th floor gathered together to show our friendship in times of trouble?"
Xia Xiaoman: “…”
It is said that city people are smart, how could this idiot be so stupid?
Who among those present dares to say that you are not gathered together because of interests?
…
The mud covered more than just the neighborhood. The roads, parks, and the bases of buildings in the city were all covered in mud, and the floating city seemed to be stuck in a muddy swamp.
Relief operations were quickly launched after ensuring that it would not rain.
Using a shovel to clean up the sludge, I don’t know how long it will take to clean up the sludge in the floating city.
In the shortest possible time, government departments used existing data to find places in the floating city where excavators, bulldozers, loaders and large trucks might be buried, and arranged personnel to dig out and repair these big guys as soon as possible.
As for how to dig these big guys out when the sludge hasn't dried yet..., it's the 21st century, and as long as our thinking doesn't slip, there are always more solutions than problems.
Determine the destination, specify the shortest route, use nearby buildings as fulcrums, tie ropes and build wooden bridges. No matter what, the Xia soldiers will always find a way to reach the destination and start excavation, completing the task in the shortest time.
On the sixth day after the flood receded, the sludge was completely cracked by the sun, and the foul stench in the air that could pickle people gradually dissipated.
Xia Xiaoman was practicing whip kicks at home when she suddenly heard someone shouting on a loudspeaker. When she opened the door, the voice became clearer, and it seemed that the rescuers were asking everyone in the building to go downstairs.
On the third floor, four soldiers in camouflage uniforms stood in a neat line, with the leader holding a loudspeaker to convey the Fucheng government's notice.
The entire city was affected by the disaster and there was no external support, so Fucheng had to bear the consequences on its own.
The disaster relief operation is a heavy task and there is a shortage of manpower.
In order to speed up the disaster relief operation in Fucheng and enable Fucheng to complete post-disaster reconstruction in a short period of time, the Fucheng government requires all citizens to participate in the rescue and work together to clean up the sludge and open up the roads.
Xiao Zheyu raised his hand and asked: "Hello, let me ask, is the participation of all people in the rescue mandatory or voluntary?"
The leading soldier glanced at Xiao Zheyu and said, "Participation in the rescue operation is voluntary. However, those who participate in the rescue can receive free food and water if they complete the required tasks every day."
"There's water and food?!" The crowd was immediately shocked. What they lacked now was food and water.
Someone asked loudly: "Completing the specified task means that there is a requirement for how much sludge each person digs every day, right? How much does it require?"
"Based on age and gender distribution, men aged 18-35 need to dig 80 truckloads of sludge every day, and women need to dig 70 truckloads. Men aged 36-50 need to dig 60 truckloads, and women need to dig 50 truckloads; men aged 51-60 need to dig 50 truckloads..."
Xiao Zheyu raised his hand again, "How many minors do we need to dig?"
"We do not recommend minors to participate in digging, but if they insist on digging, males aged 13-17 need to dig 50 carts a day, and females 40 carts. Children under 13 will not be admitted."
This is to prevent some people from taking advantage of the children to earn food and water.
Normal minors whose parents have passed away can go to a rescue center. Rescuers will arrange accommodation for these children, and they don’t need to work hard to earn food.
Digging 80 truckloads of sludge a day is actually not too difficult.
The bucket truck is not big and can normally be filled with sludge in about 5 minutes. Including the time for pushing the sludge to the loading and unloading truck for registration and unloading, it takes about 7 minutes to complete a bucket truck of sludge.
On average, each person works about 10 hours a day.
It seems like a long time, but compared to the real rescue workers, this time is very short.
Rescue workers stay at their posts from morning till night, and do not leave even for eating or sleeping. Their working hours per day start at a minimum of 14 hours, and 16 hours is the norm.
But not everyone can be as dedicated as the disaster relief workers.
As soon as the leading soldier reported the amount of sludge to be dug, someone bargained, "Comrade, I feel a little uncomfortable these past two days. Can you dig less?"
"I'm not feeling well either. Maybe it's because I was digging sludge and smelled the stench for too long. I still feel a little dizzy now."
"Hey, comrade, before you came, we were digging sludge. Can we count the sludge we dug these days and exchange it for some water?"
"Yes, comrade, can you please exchange some water and food for us? My waist is almost broken after digging mud these past two days."
The topic gradually deviated. When interests were involved, many things would easily deteriorate.
Before the notice from the Fucheng government came down, they dug the sludge for themselves. After the notice came down, the action of digging the sludge rose to a higher level, digging for the Fucheng.
The leading soldier did not agree to these people's unreasonable demands. He conveyed the notice, hung a notice sign on the wall, and led his teammates to the next building to make the notification.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
