We are about to welcome the new year, but they were forever left behind in the earthquake at the end of 2023.

At 23:59 on December 18, 2023, a sudden 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, China, with a focal depth of 10 kilometers. As of December 26, the earthquake had killed 135 people, injured 781, and destroyed nearly 15,000 houses, causing severe damage to infrastructure such as water, electricity, and transportation in Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

The moment of the earthquake was terrifying. Escapees said, "It felt like a big truck was crashing in, the shaking was very severe, and it lasted for forty or fifty seconds. The furniture in our house was smashed to pieces..."

This cold winter, the earthquake left many people homeless overnight. At the epicenter, rescuers retrieved the bodies of a family of six from the mud. Three adults used their bodies to protect two children in the middle, one of whom was pregnant. All six perished, none survived.

One elder in the disaster area said, "People are running in front of me, and the sediment is chasing after me. Their house, which was going to be used to welcome their daughter-in-law in a few days, was gone in an instant. She didn't cry when talking about her own affairs, but choked up when talking about her neighbor. She said, 'I thought my affairs were not a big deal. My neighbor's family of five was all gone, and the youngest was only three years old. I was lucky to escape.'"

The city after the earthquake was in ruins, with collapsed houses and cracked walls everywhere. The sight was shocking. Some people asked, "Why did this 6.2-magnitude earthquake cause such a large amount of damage?" Due to the shallow crustal reverse fault type of this earthquake, the population density in the affected area was high, the housing seismic resistance was poor, and the earthquake occurred in the middle of the night. What made it more difficult was that the local temperature in Gansu and Qinghai had dropped to below minus ten degrees, and the cold wind made escape and rescue extremely difficult.

Despite these difficult conditions, our armed police and firefighters continued to search for survivors day and night in the ruins and sediment. They worried that a cold night might pass, and the situation would be unpredictable, so many people might not be able to hold on. But when they rested, they chose to warm themselves by a bonfire outside the tent. Why? The reporter asked. The rescue personnel replied, "The tents are for the civilians."

At the same time, people from surrounding cities in Gansu helped out. The owner of a noodle shop closed his business and rushed to the disaster area to deliver noodles. He said, "As a man, when my hometown is in trouble, I cannot not help." Their noodle shop rotated shifts to ensure that the victims had hot noodles to eat 24 hours a day.

According to the Gansu Daily client, the Jishishan County Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, located in Dajiahe Town, the epicenter of the earthquake, saw severe damage in many parts of the hospital. However, medical staff managed to rescue essential medical equipment and set up makeshift tents outside the hospital to admit and treat the injured.

In the earthquake relief efforts, various rescue forces, including the Western Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Gansu Provincial Military Region,Gansu Provincial Armed Police Force, Gansu Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps, Gansu Provincial Forest Fire Corps, and provincial-level emergency rescue teams, as well as social emergency rescue forces, dispatched a total of more than 4,500 rescue personnel and 820 vehicles to the disaster area for full coverage and blind search. A total of 19 medical aid teams, consisting of 667 personnel and 99 ambulances, were dispatched to conduct injury classification, transfer, and treatment. All injured persons have been admitted to hospitals such as Linxia Prefectural People's Hospital, Jishishan County People's Hospital, Chinese Medicine Hospital, Maternity and Child Health Hospital, and Township Health Centers in the affected areas.

Although natural disasters are ruthless, human love is always abundant. The next day after the earthquake, a large number of donated materials were already on their way to the rescue, including donations from numerous enterprises and individuals in China, as well as rescue teams organized by various organizations. Up to December 24, more than 1.16 billion yuan in funds and 690 million yuan in materials had been donated from central and state departments and provinces.

The earthquake will eventually pass, but every pair of powerful shoulders and every smiling face in this disaster will be remembered in our hearts. May the pain of the disaster fade away quickly, and may the mountains and rivers of our homeland be safe and sound.