Flood control expert learns to tame nature

"I was really nervous," he recalled.
Though he has learned to handle the pressure associated with his job, his second encounter with a great flood in 1996 almost devastated him.
He was deeply shocked by the experience. Seeing the desperate look in farmers' eyes, he thought he should do something to help control the flooding that destroyed peoples' lives.

Liao Quanfu, director of the water resources bureau of Hunan province's Huarong county,franklin et marshall, inspects the water level of the Yangtze River on Aug 5. [Xu Dianbo/For China Daily]
The dam has alleviated more than five major flood peaks and played a great role in the anti-flood work on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Then in 1998, Liao was working in Huarong's Hongshantou town, a key point for flood control on the Yangtze River .
About 100,000 people came to fight the flood. Though the population of Chaqi was only 30,000, nearby villagers joined the battle because their homes were under water.
So he joined the local flood control effort and has since become an expert.
Liao said he was no longer frightened by an impending flood.
YUEYANG, Hunan - Life began to flow in a different direction for Liao Quanfu when his hometown was inundated with water.
Liao said the experience had a great impact on him, as well as on flood control in China.
Flood control expert learns to tame nature
2010-09-28 07:54
"After a disaster, people easily forget the pain when the wound has healed. But I can't,franklin et marshall," Liao added. "However advanced the technology may be, people who do flood control can't lose their basic perspective."
The agricultural researcher had only recently graduated from university in 1988 when autumn rain spilled over into large swaths of farmland.
"The flood level increased eight times and we raised the embankment six times,polo ralph lauren," Liao told China Daily.
Now, Liao's daily work is relatively simple and relaxed. He inspects the water at the site every day,polo ralph lauren pas cher, "but half of the time I'm in my office, monitoring the changes in the water level and making the anti-flood plan."
"It (water conservancy) was so backward, you can't even imagine it. We could only passively accept the disaster,franklin marshall," Liao,ralph lauren pas cher, now 48, recalled sadly.
"We now have more technical means of flood control,franklin marshall," Liao said. "The Three Gorges Dam has also played a role in regulating flood control."
Liao laughed,polo ralph lauren pas cher, but was moved at the same time.
The old jeep was so decrepit that every night Liao endured bites from mosquitoes that came in through the window he couldn't close.
First-hand information helps form a timely and effective program, which is very useful for flood control staff, he explained.
Once the flood season passes, he pays more attention to other topics, like how to use of water efficiently and to protect it as a precious resource.
"Perhaps I will work five more years, then I may not worry about so many things," Liao said with a smile.
At the time, he was working in Chaqi town of Huarong, a Dongting Lake area town. During the flood, the town became an isolated island when neighboring towns were submerged by water.
Frightened, many people rushed to buy car tires to use as floatation devices. One day, while working on the embankment, Liao's wife gave him a bicycle tire, saying: "I can't afford to buy you a car tire. I can only give you a bicycle tire as a life buoy. Be careful."
"All the farmland became a vast expanse of water. Crops were under 1.5 meters of water," recalled Liao, born in Huarong county in Hunan province, a place prone to flooding.
He said he used a stick to pick up the rice in the field. "The rice had turned black and smelly."
After 1998, there was a more profound understanding of and greater input into flood control from central and local governments.
Liao said he never slept in his bed the entire year, but stayed in an old jeep. "Every day I drove the car to the most dangerous areas, which let me keep an eye on the conditions."
"Information prediction and scientific scheduling make our working conditions completely different," Liao said.
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