Under a preliminary plan that is yet to be approved by government, Beichuan will be rebuilt at a new site in neighboring Anxian County. Beichuan has been sealed off since May 20, and rescue workers have evacuated everyone in the face of threats of lake burst and the spread of disease.
"My hand was shaking as I wrote down the name of every single person in my county who died," a surviving Beichuan official said on a big outdoor TV screen in an interview with CCTV. Many of the audience in the stadium wept.
This is probably one of the best examples of a shelter. More than 20,000 surviving victims of the earthquake sleep inside the stadium and in outside tents, chatting with and comforting each other. They have enough food, drinks and medicines.
Cleaners take meal outside the Jiuzhou Stadium.
Volunteers have come from every corner of the nation and are working hard. Missing and Found persons notices can be seen on a wall. A temporary school is available in two huge marquees, and counseling camps are also dotted around. At one of them, children were drawing pictures to be pinned to the tent walls.
"Some kids are traumatized, but most are in good spirits. When their drawings are put on the wall, they feel happy and proud," an onsite volunteer told me. She borrowed a pen from us to write "From Beichuan Primary School" below a child's name on a drawing.
Children draw pictures in a counseling camp.
To someone unaware of the earthquake, the place would look more like a rock music festival. Children are happily running around and playing with the sports equipments on the square. Adults seem to have overcome their sorrow and sadness, and are grateful for the assistance from governments and from donors and helpers around the globe.