Although the “golden rescue time”, which refers to the 72 hours after an earthquake occurs, has already passed, the sentence “not to abandon and not to give up” is deeply rooted in the heart of every leader and staff member of Sichuan Provincial IP Administration. The Administration has dispatched many people to participate in the earthquake relief work, working hard in the frontline with other colleagues in IP administrations in disaster regions.

Immeasurable Losses

The earthquake in Wenchuan shocks 181 counties in 21 cities and prefectures in Sichuan, causing serious casualty. Most of the office buildings and equipment is destroyed.

From a report of Sichuang Provincial IP Administration on the earthquake of May 12, we learn that by the 12 o’clock of May 16, two staff members of Beichuan County IP Administration in Mianyang City are missing; one from Qingchuan IP Administration in Guangyuan City is serious injured and another 10 slightly hurt. A total of four family members of a staff member of Beichuan County IP Administration, including his parent, wife and child are missing.

The Earthquake results in many cracks on the walls of Sichuan Provincial IP Administration and partly damages office facilities.

The disaster also seriously damages the office facilities of Guangyuan Municipal IP Administration and paralyzes the patent information system with direct economic loss exceeding 500,000 yuan; the newly built office building, training center and resident buildings of Qingchuan County IP Administration are severely destroyed with direct economic loss exceeding 3 million yuan; the office buildings of IP administrations in Jian’ge, Cangxi, Chaotian and Lizhou counties are seriously damaged and has become endangered buildings, and office facilities are severely destroyed.

The office building of Mianyang Municipal IP Administration has also become endangered building with all the office facilities being damaged; the office building of Beichuan County IP Administration collapses, destroying all the office equipment; the office building of Jiangyou County IP Administration splits severely and the equipment is badly destroyed with direct economic loss exceeding 400,000 yuan; we still cannot contact Pingwu County and Anxian County and the direct losses of Mianyang Municipal IP Administration and its affiliated county level IP administrations cannot be completely measured.

Besides Anya Municipal IP Administration, four county-level IP administrations of Hanyuan, Shimian, Tianquan and Baoxing also suffer greatly from the earthquake. The 450-square-meter resident buildings of Lushan County IP Administration split.

Some of the office facilities of Aba Prefecture are damaged. Currently, we cannot contact some regions severely hit by the disaster such as Wenchuan County, Maoxian County, Heishui County and Lixian County, and thus cannot measure the direct economic losses of Aba Prefecture and its affiliated county-level IP administrations.

The office facilities of Ganzi Prefecture IP Administration are partly damaged and cracks appear on the war of the office building of Danba County IP Administration.

A total of 76 cracks appear on the wall of the office building of Deyang Municipal IP Administration with a batch of office facilities being damaged; the office buildings of the IP administrations in Mianzhu and Shenfang have become endangered buildings.

The office building of Dujiangyan Municipal IP Administration is serious damaged and most of the office facilities are damaged. The office buildings of IP administrations of Jinjiang District, Xindu District and Wenjiang District split and that of Dayi County IP Administration has become an endangered building with office facilities being damaged.

Disaster Relief Never Ceases

On May 19, we interview heads of IP administrations of Guangyuan City, Mianyang City and Aba Prefecture.

The head of Guangyuan Municipal IP Administration told us via phone that the road from the city to Qingchuan County, which is one of the regions most severely hit by the earthquake, has been basically reopened. But influenced by geological disasters like aftershocks, the road is blocked occasionally. Guangyuan Municipal IP Administration has dispatched people to Qingchuan County IP Administration to express sympathy and solicitude to the people there, and sent some leaders there to help recovering the normal work.

Mianyang Municipal IP Administration also suffers greatly from the earthquake. Tang Bingjun, Director of Mianyang Municipal IP Administration says that the earthquake make the IP Administration of Beichuan County, which is seriously hit by the earthquake, lose two staff members. On May 17, Mianyang Municipal IP Administration starts its normal work at their temporary office.

Yang Dengyun, Director of Aba Prefecture IP Administration says through mobile phone message that every staff member in the IP administrations of the four counties of Wenchuan County, Lixian County, Maoxian County and Heishui County is safe, and the office building of Maoxian County IP Administration is damaged.

Sensation Everywhere

Though aftershocks occur frequently, staff members of Chengdu Patent Agency of SIPO still stand fast at their posts and timely handle patent applications and collect patent fees. In the past week, a total of 85 patent applications are handled and 412 sums of patent fees are collected, totaling 221,155 yuan.

Up to date, Sichuan Provincial IP Administration has totally dispatched 11 people to participate in the provincial-level disaster relief work. All the leaders and staff members have thrown themselves into the campaign against the disaster. Sichuan Provincial IP Administration has established a disaster relief leading group, headed by Director Huang Feng, which is ready to go to Chongqing for the disaster relief any time. Meanwhile, all the leaders and staff members in IP system in disaster-hit regions are working hard to help the relief work.

While unloading construction materials in the status of volunteers, we find that the volunteers include the old people and students. Owing to the earthquake, people, regardless of their age and region, come here to jointly combat the disaster. We believe, through helping each other, China can surely tide over the difficulty.

2008-05-22

2008-05-22