Dujiangyan 'Happy Home': the first resettlement community

What's the "new home" like?

"Bound together, we will never abandon each other. The greater the danger, the closer the union. Together we can work miracles. Remain firm in your belief that tomorrow will be more beautiful….." This was the first lesson after the Disaster Relief School had resumed classes in the Dujiangyan "Happy Home" resettlement community.

It transpires that the Disaster Relief School is composed of the elementary and high schools as well as a kindergarten. Each classroom is around 200 square meters and divided into three parts. The two ends are for classes of about 60 students and the middle is a dinning room for students and other residents. The whole classroom is exceptionally clean. "Quiet please, students. Don't distract the class opposite", the teacher continually reminds these kids. There are beaming smiles on their faces.

It is reported that "Happy Home", the first resettlement community built in Sichuan, has been receiving people from disaster areas since the evening of May 22. The community covers a total area of 10 hectares. There are 517 temporary homes, with an area of 10,000 square meters, housing 1,500 people. As of May 29, 916 people have moved in.

The whole community is clean and orderly. On the door of each house, with an average area of 15 square meters, a clear sign announces "No. X, Happy Home Resettlement Community," with the name of the Head of the Camp and the occupying family respectively. There are three to four people in each family. Everything indicates the planned intercession of community organizations and their orderly management.

"In accordance with the standard family unit of three people, there are three beds in each house. The average living area is equal to or perhaps greater than the general standard (4.9 square meters per person) in urban areas of Chengdu," the individual in charge of the building site told China Economic Weekly.