A university in Zhengzhou
21-year-old female college student combs rescue information online to "catch" people
Zheng Caiyang (pseudonym), a 21-year-old college student from a school in Zhengzhou, likes rain, but she hopes that the rain will stop soon.
This girl, who is about to enter her senior year at the beginning of school, used Weibo and WeChat to communicate with some friends and more strangers during her preparations for postgraduate entrance examinations, sorting out and forwarding every distress and rescue message.
On the evening of July 23, Zheng Caiyang said that the Internet was like a net, "recovering those people from floods and helplessness."
Can't bear to put down the hot phone
On the morning of July 20, heavy rain poured down in Zhengzhou.
Zheng Caiyang opened the dormitory window and recorded the laughter of young men and women passing by.
After arriving at the school library, raindrops hit the glass dome of the building.
She was in a daze again, remembering that in a movie, the old professor raised her voice several times, but her voice was drowned by the heavy rain. She turned around and wrote four words on the blackboard: Sit quietly and listen to the rain.
The healing caused by the rain faded with a notice from the school: According to an emergency notice issued by the Zhengzhou Flood Control Office, this was the first severe rainstorm in Zhengzhou’s history. Since 17:00 on July 20, a flood control II emergency has been implemented. The response was upgraded to level I.
The school requires students to go back to the dormitory as soon as possible to rest.
On the way back to the dormitory, Zheng Caiyang and his roommate stepped on the water that had reached their ankles.
That night, a large number of photos and videos of the disaster rushed to her through the Internet like a tide.
Zheng Caiyang wanted to see how heavy the rain outside was. As soon as she opened the window, half of her sleeve was wet, and the cold rain hit her face.
Zhengzhou Metro Line 5 is her frequent line.
Usually the carriages were full of people, young people bowed their heads to play games, or put on headphones to listen to songs, but on the 20th, muddy water reached the chests of passengers, the carriage tilted, and people clung to the handrails.
Zhengzhou Sports Center has also become an isolated island in the ocean. Some people are trapped. In the past, black car drivers would yell to the students who are coming and going: "Would you like to go?"
A friend forwarded to her the information of the off-road team for rescue in the city. 89 people signed up, some left their real names, some left their net names, and some left their names without leaving their names, only writing their own location and mobile phone number, plus one sentence "Welcome to harassment", "Without professional equipment, love is still there".
Although there are only more than 2,000 fans, Zheng Caiyang did not dare to miss a rescue message and moved to Weibo one by one.
Soon, some netizens left a message saying that they had just called and that it was not a rescue call, "Don't mess with others." Zheng Caiyang panicked. She was afraid of delaying the survival of the trapped and worried about harassing ordinary people.
Previously, part-time jobs in movie theaters, supermarkets, and Pizza Hut was the junior girl's little experience in dealing with society.
She entered the other party's mobile phone number, and when she was about to dial, she hurriedly got up again, walked around in the dormitory and sat down again, wondering what the first sentence of her opening said.
At 9:26 pm on the 20th, she and two friends created the first WeChat group: Zhengzhou Help Information Collection.
In less than half an hour, nearly 400 people swarmed into the group. Most of them were strangers. Copy and paste the help and rescue information seen everywhere, and forward them to Weibo, WeChat groups and Moments.
The news in the group was like the heavy rain that night, there were thirty or forty messages within a few tens of seconds.
Zheng Caiyang didn't close her eyes all night, she couldn't sleep.
Every time I plan to go to bed, I see my friends in the group sending out "Help, save one more", I can’t bear to put down the hot phone, "Those are the street scenes you are familiar with, and those are the people you are familiar with." .
One picture "rescued" two hospitals
Holding the phone for a long time, Zheng Caiyang's hands were sore, and her thumb hurts. She changed her posture and lay on the bed.
It feels like she is carrying her 26-inch suitcase and moving from the first floor to the fifth floor, and then from the fifth floor to the first floor.
She also wondered about herself. WeChat only has more than 300 friends and Weibo only has more than 2,000 fans. How useful can it be?
Beginning on the 20th, Zhengzhou went out of power.
When she checked Weibo, she saw that a company was willing to provide generators and forwarded the screenshots to the WeChat group.
The next day, a group of friends specially added her to WeChat: "Thank you for sending a screenshot and saving two hospitals in Zhengzhou."
Zheng Caiyang realized that everyone is a thread, and if there are more people, a thread can be twisted into a rope, "Don't be stingy with your forwarding."
On July 21, Xinxiang was in a hurry, and Zheng Caiyang established a new rescue group in Xinxiang Hebi. There are now 402 people in the group.
"We are rescuing Sizhuangding Village and need a flashlight urgently." "Urgently needed! Elastic bandages, medical masks, and thick medical gloves!" "I'm not going to sleep anymore, I will go"... From 1 to 5 in the morning, there are more than 400 in the group information.
At 3:53 a.m. on July 24, Zheng Caiyang had not rested for many days, and sent a message: "Very awake and unable to sleep, my temple hurts, and a similar current flows through the back of his head. It's numb."
The postgraduate entrance examination is about to take another 5 months, and the summer vacation is a critical period.
Seeing two roommates go to the library every morning at 7 o'clock in the morning, she will be flustered occasionally when she is free, but Zheng Caiyang will comfort herself half-jokingly, "I'm accumulating virtue."
Zheng Caiyang said that the Internet is like a net, "salvaging those people from floods and helplessness."
The background of her WeChat Moments is like this: "I hope that everyone in my world and I are safe, happy and healthy."
In the past, she would not apply through strangers' WeChat friends, nor would she receive calls from other places.
But this disaster narrowed the distance between her and strangers. "Those who I don't know, those who ask for help in the ocean, are also in my world."
(Zheng Caiyang is a pseudonym in the text)
The Internet is like a net, salvaging those people from floods and helplessness.
Those who I don't know, who are asking for help in the ocean, are also in my world.
I hope that everyone in my world and I are safe, happy and healthy.
Everyone is a line, more people, a line can also be twisted into a rope, don't be stingy with your forwarding.
—— Zheng Caiyang (pseudonym), a 21-year-old female college student from a university in Zhengzhou
Beijing News reporter Du Hansan