The Near Everest Rescue in China
- andrewsingerchina
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
The China Chronicle
No one died earlier this month when a rare, off-season blizzard struck remote Gama Valley on the eastern slopes of the Zhumulangma (“Goddess Mother of the World”) mountain during peak hiking season. Almost 600 hikers and 300 guides and porters who were caught in raging winds and trapped under 3.5 feet of snow were saved. If the same storm had hit the south side of Sagarmatha (“The Forehead in the Sky”) mountain, as Mount Everest is known in Nepal, instead of in Tibet on the Chinese side of the shared border, I fear the result would not have been so fortunate.
Despite what I am sure would be the best of intentions and efforts, this sobering answer begs the question why. What enabled China to so effectively mount a high altitude rescue (above 16,000 ft.)? And what conditions in Nepal would have hindered such an outcome?
Nepal is a small, impoverished country that has recently undergone a volcanic political and social collapse and is trying to stabilize, if not yet rebuild. Much of official Kathmandu, its capital, burned. Amidst this chaos, Nepal was struck by devastating monsoon rains, flooding, and landslides from a storm at the same time. In spite of (because of?) praised attempts by the new government to warn and proactively react, the death toll thus far is (only) several dozen killed.
These are rugged, mountainous places on both sides of the Himalayas. Transport is challenging in the best of times. With political disarray, logistical deficiencies, economic frailty, and social instability, the Nepalese government would likely have been critically hampered in responding to a blizzard at the base camp on the south side of Everest.
Most nations profess to care for their people. In China, it is a fundamental tenet and mantra of China’s Communist Party. It is a political prime directive that is key to governing legitimacy. While I do not believe that this is empty rhetoric, it is also true that the Chinese government is sensitive to criticism and the potential for the instability that has recently plagued Nepal. As such, ensuring emphatic and effective responses to disasters has a political, as well as practical, dimension.
China can be a very organized place when it wants to be. The Ministry of Emergency Management, the national-level emergency response department, coordinates responses along with other ministries. The military gets involved. There are also volunteer groups that respond across the nation, the two largest being the Blue Sky Rescue Team and China Red Arrow Rescue Team, respectively. Blue Sky is the only civil society organization in China that is registered with the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group.
Such response efforts may be mandated from the top, but they are implemented in the same decentralized fashion as much of Chinese society operates. Though not perfect and not without challenges, these efforts are impressive in scope and efficacy. In the Gama Valley, the local Tingri county government sprung into action. Personnel, horses, yaks, and supplies were immediately sent into the Valley and up the slopes to reach the trapped trekkers. “Hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams [were] mobilised to clear snow blocking access to the walkers….” It sounds arduous. It takes dedication. It is expensive. Everyone was saved.
In speaking about flooding elsewhere, but illustrative of this near tragedy in Tibet, The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, wrote recently that emergency responses in China, whether for flood, earthquake, blizzard or more, are due to “the unity and determination of the people…who are the resilient backbone of the nation, proving that ‘when one place is in trouble, help comes from all directions.’”
China is politically stable, logistically efficient, and for the most part economically well-off and socially cohesive. The success in Tibet shows what can come from marshaling these attributes.
This is a personal topic to me because I am a hiker. It could have been me up there. Friends and I were hiking less than 300 miles away to the southeast as the eagle flies exactly one year ago in the Bumthang Valley of Bhutan. We were tent camping above 13,000 ft. Late season rains hampered our muddy climb and decent. We train for these adventures. We come prepared. We have guides. We think we are ready. The Gama Valley shows that anything can happen.
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