Within 24 hours after the 6.5 magnitude earthquake, XCMG was hard at work on site
XCMG recently provided a fast emergency response to an earthquake-stricken area of China. The firm’s rescue team rushed to provide help following the 6.5-magnitude earthquake which hit Ludian County in Yunnan Province.
Rescuers reported 398 deaths, 1,801 injured, and in excess of 10,000 buildings having collapsed.
The Chinese authorities started a Level-1 emergency response, with XCMG responding quickly by setting up its own rescue team, which mobilised heavy equipment, including truck cranes, wheeled loaders, and excavators to provide assistance.
Within 24 hours of the earthquake having struck, XCMG had delivered seven wheeled loaders, four excavators, and two cranes to carry out urgent repairs to the main highway and on-site earthquake relief work.
The use of the equipment was directed by the Zhaotong Traffic Bureau and Highway Bureau. Six of the machines were used to repair the highway from Zhaotong Highway Bureau to Ludian. Four XCMG loaders repaired the landslide section in the highway towards the disaster-stricken area, with the work carried out overnight. And XCMG excavators repaired the landslide-damaged road in Longtoushan Township.
In such a disaster, the time taken to respond is crucial as delays can cost lives. When the news of the earthquake became known, XCMG chairman Wang Min responded by mobilising the firm’s nearest rescue forces quickly to assist in the relief work, set up the earthquake relief headquarters in Zhaotong under vice president Sun Jianzhong, and established the rescue team with locally available equipment.
A large XCMG wheeled loader was used in Longtoushan Township very soon after the earthquake, but the damage to roads and a bridge caused by a landslide meant that pieces of equipment had to be kept on standby 6km away until the links could be repaired sufficiently.
Only disaster relief vehicles were allowed on the road to the disaster-stricken area, with heavy equipment and civilian vehicles not being permitted to enter the area. However, police officers in charge of the traffic realised the importance of bringing the heavy equipment to the site quickly and relieved the congestion as quickly as possible so that the XCMG machines could be delivered to the stricken area.
