"The vehicles must travel circuitously, adding 700-800 kilometers to normal routes in order to penetrate into the county. Rocks may fall from mountains and mudslides can happen at any time. This situation will worsen when we encounter rainstorms," he said.

For the time being, most supplies are still being dropped from the air. Since Wenchuan County is situated in a mountainous area, the climate may drastically change over the course of a day. It's cold in the morning and evening, but it's very hot at noon. Moreover, the epidemic prevention station in Wenchuan was set up in a place that once served as an animal trade market.

Thus far, Wenchuan residents have no drinkable water. To resolve the problem, fire fighting officers and paramilitary officers send water there twice daily. Then the 302 Hospital tests the water quality. China.org.cn learned that even tested water is not safe to drink; it must be boiled.

"The natural environment is horrible," Qin Enqiang, a chief doctor with 302 Hospital said. "Dust covers the sky every day. And there is a huge amount of mosquitoes here. Our team is still in urgent need of medicine, especially skin related pharmaceuticals, and masks."

The 302 Hospital's epidemic prevention teams were dispatched to Wenchuan, Beichuan, Shifang and Pengzhou, all severely damaged earthquake areas. Their job is to tour around and examine the conditions of quake refugees and local military officers every day to ensure everyone’s health and safety. Several soldiers have caught fevers from mosquito bites, but no serious epidemic has broken out to date.

"In addition to epidemic prevention work, we also treat and cure local people; they are very grateful to us for our efforts, " Qin said. "We try our best to help people as much as possible."

As the only hospital of the People's Liberation Army to deal with infection and epidemic diseases, "We all are in high spirits now. We’re all very good at quarantine and epidemic prevention," Liu Bin added.

(China.org.cn May 28, 2008)