震区纪实: 赈灾志愿者带来的挑战

Standing in the middle of a yard bustling with soldiers, Luo Ming, a haggard 31-year-old team leader with the Sichuan Emergency Response Volunteer Group, sees a threat nearly as grave as the magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Western China’s mountainous area on Saturday: too many volunteers.

四川应急志愿服务总队的一名队长罗明（音译）站在一个有很多军人在忙碌的院子中间，脸色憔悴，他看出有一个威胁几乎与上周六降临中国西南部山区的7级地震一样严重：志愿者太多了。

“The volunteers have created a certain kind of disaster themselves,” he says, speaking with the rapid speech of someone who has not slept in 48 hours. “There are more volunteers than there are earthquake victims. They have no place to sleep, and nothing to eat, and most of them have no experience or training.”

“志愿者本身就制造了某种灾难，”他说。罗现年31岁，由于48小时没有睡觉，他语速很快。“志愿者比地震受害者还要多。他们没有地方睡觉，也没有吃的，而且他们当中多数人没有经验，也没有受过训练。”

Mr Luo is manning the volunteer registration tent at the centre of Longmen township, where the earthquake has left thousands of people without shelter, food and water for three days. He has registered more than 500 volunteers, but he has turned even more than that away. “For some people, the biggest help that they can do for disaster areas is go back where they came from safely,” he says.

罗明正在龙门乡中心的一个帐篷安排志愿者登记工作。地震已使当地数千人3天没有居所、食物和饮用水。他登记了500多个志愿者，但被他打发回家的志愿者人数更多。“对有些人来说，他们能对灾区做出的最大贡献，就是平平安安地从哪里来，回哪里去，”他表示。

Frustrations like his are partly why Beijing announced on Sunday a controversial ban on private volunteers and civil society groups entering the disaster area for the time being. But it was criticised by activists and academics, who say the state is blocking an important source of assistance.

他的这种受挫感，在一定程度上正是北京方面为什么在周日颁布一项有争议的禁令，暂时禁止私人志愿者和民间社会团体进入灾区。但活动人士和学者批评此举，认为政府堵住了一个重要的救援来源。

But the very need to go to such lengths to keep volunteers away reflects a shift in Chinese society, where civic involvement and philanthropy are rising. “There is for sure an increase in volunteerism in China,” says Shen Hongguo, associate professor at the Northwest University of Politics and Law. He adds that the trend presents a challenge to the government, which can no longer control situations in the same way.

但是，政府需要花这么大功夫来劝退志愿者，本身就反映了中国社会的一个转变：公民参与和慈善行为正在兴起。“中国的志愿服务行为肯定在增加，”西北政法大学副教授沈宏国（音译）表示。他补充说，这种趋势给政府带来一个挑战，因为政府再也不能以老方式掌控局面了。

Some of the people volunteering are youths such as Wang Xiaojun, 22, a student at a vocational school for ethnic minorities in the Tibetan part of SichuanSichuan’s Tibetan area. “We got out of an exam on Saturday morning, saw the news, and decided to go help,” he says.

志愿者中包括王晓军（音译）这样的年轻人。他现年22岁，是四川藏区一所少数民族职校的学生。“我们在上周六上午考试结束后看到新闻，就决定来参加救援，”他表示。

He and seven classmates arrived on Sunday and unloaded trucks in Longmen. Although they spent the night sleeping on the street, the group was bright-eyed yesterday, as they tried to hitch rides back home. “As volunteers, you feel so united,” Mr Wang explains.

他和7个同学在周日抵达灾区，在龙门乡帮着从卡车上卸货。虽然他们晚上就睡在街上，但这群人昨日看上去精神不错。他们正试图搭车回家。“作为志愿者，你感受到团结的气氛，”王晓军解释说。

However, authorities are trying to make sure that no more volunteers such as Mr Wang and his band of classmates show up. In addition to the State Council announcement, several universities in Sichuan issued notices to their students asking them not to travel to the earthquake areas, encouraging them to donate blood instead.

不过，当局正试图确保不再有王晓军和他的同学这样的志愿者进入灾区。除了国务院发出的公告外，四川多所大学也向学生发出通知，要求他们不要动身前往灾区，同时鼓励他们以献血的方式做出贡献。

One of the reasons for the government’s harsh attitude is transportation logistics: most of the affected villages are accessible only on narrow mountain roads with precipitous drops on one side and cliffs on the other. The roads are so narrow that cars can pass by only at a crawl, tucking in their mirrors, and squeezing past each other inch by inch. Large rescue vehicles and heavy car traffic makes the roads impassable.

政府态度严厉的原因之一是交通物流问题：受地震影响的多数村子只能通过狭窄的山路进入，这些路一边是陡坡，另一边是悬崖。由于路面狭窄，相对而行的汽车只能在收起反光镜后缓慢地交错而过。大型救援车辆和大量车流使这些路严重堵塞。

On one stretch between Longmen and Taiping, traffic was so bad on Sunday morning that an injured woman was taken out of her ambulance, which was stuck in traffic, and piggybacked by her husband to seek medical attention.

在龙门乡与太平镇之间的一段公路上，周日上午交通堵塞严重，以至于一名受伤的妇女从进退不得的救护车上被抬下来，由她丈夫背着去就医。

The traffic seemed to be improving yesterday, with certain roads designated as “medical lifelines” to be used only by ambulances taking patients out. Rescue workers have also adapted to the narrow roads by shifting relief supplies to smaller vehicles.

昨日交通状况似乎有所改善，某些道路被指定为“救援专用通道”，确保救护车及时将伤员运出灾区。救援人员也开始把救灾物资转移到较小的车辆上，以适应狭窄的道路。

But, even after transportation improves, Beijing will be faced with the challenge of managing the civil society groups that are so eager to help out.

但是，即便在交通好转之后，北京方面仍将面临一个挑战：应付急切想要出力救灾的民间社会团体。