Heavy rains hit Yingjiang County in China’s southwestern Yunnan Province, causing floods and landslides that killed three Christians.
Gulika Village and Aiguoshe Village, whose members are all Christians, were damaged due to flooding and the erosion of steep slopes.
On June 24, three villagers in Gulika Village, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, died in the disaster. Yang Tiancai, the backbone of a Christian family, left two children who are under ten years of age, and his elderly parents. Two months ago, his wife passed away of uremia. Her treatment took all of the families savings and put the family in debt. The family is in financial difficulties.
In 2004, a landslide struck the village. In the same year, the village moved to a new location which is now called Gulika New Village. The new village was also affected. Many fields were submerged, livestock drowned, and houses washed away.
Fortunately, more than half of the villagers were working on a hillside when the flood occurred, avoiding any more damage. Heavily in debt due to relocation, they face a more difficult situation after crops, shacks, and woodland were destroyed. Local Christians found more than 100 people who were farming had returned, but there are others missing when they had to quit searching owing to possible secondary disasters.
On July 18, a huge storm struck the county, affecting 15 villages and one farm with three persons missing.
Large fields in Aiguoshe Village were inundated, and two houses were swept away. Local villagers, who survive on the crops they raise, are now homeless. They need to temporarily live with relatives.
Due to the coronavirus, the church in Dehong Prefecture is in lockdown. Local churches have appealed to believers to pray for those families and villages afflicted by the floods. Some Christians visited vulnerable families and helped clean up the mud inside the homes.
During the pandemic and disaster, the Yingjiang County CC&TSPM and teachers of the Yingjiang Christian Training Center, which was established in 1994, launched a prayer campaign for the county.
(The author is a pastor of Yingjiang Church, Dehong, Yunnan.)
- Translated by Karen Luo
