Civilian rescue teams offer help at home and abroad

The number of such groups has grown rapidly in China during the past 15 years as more people devote their time to relief efforts. Hou Liqiang reports.

Wang Yi has mixed feelings when he recalls the time he spent in an earthquake-stricken area after a magnitude 8 temblor hit Wenchuan, Sichuan province, on May 12, 2008.

Along with many volunteers from across China, he went to the area with almost nothing but enthusiasm to save people, only to find that he could hardly do anything to help, he said.

However, there was a huge change in his emotions when he spoke about a rescue operation in Turkiye after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the country and neighboring Syria on Feb 6.

The equipment his team carried was more advanced than that brought by many national rescue teams from other countries, said Wang, who was in charge of 304 members of the Blue Sky Rescue team in Turkiye. The BSR is China's largest humanitarian NGO.

With the aid of high-end equipment, including a drone that can supply constant light and various types of life-detection instruments, the team helped pull eight survivors and 137 bodies from the rubble.