CHAPTER 466: CHAPTER 464: A DIFFICULT CHOICE

"This truly is a very difficult decision..." Faced with the question posed by Chen Xin, the deputy mayor also felt extremely troubled.

This isn’t a decision that can be made easily, nor is it a question that can be decided easily.

Indeed, the two hundred thousand survivors are very important; their living arrangements and resettlement are the most pressing issues to be resolved right now. But the three hundred thousand deceased are equally important, especially considering that among them, a hundred thousand remain buried under the ruins.

No one knows if these two hundred thousand survivors would mind living atop the remains of those hundred thousand people still buried beneath the ruins.

It’s impossible to collect and bury the bodies of those hundred thousand victims, which is an unavoidable reality, and even the survivors can understand this situation.

After all, surviving is already a blessing, and the inability to collect the remains is an inescapable predicament.

Yet if we were to directly level the ruins now, incorporating the bodies still buried within into the foundation, it would be something that neither emotions nor moral ethics can easily accept.

"Yes, I also feel very troubled by this," Chen Xin forced a bitter smile, explaining to the deputy mayor: "The resettlement work for the disaster victims is the immediate priority and the key focus of city hall’s work moving forward. However, this city is built on a flat land surrounding a lake, with mountainous terrain all around it.

The only available flat land has been depleted after over a thousand years of city development, and there’s nowhere nearby with a suitable flat terrain to accommodate the construction of resettlement areas for two hundred thousand residents. To rebuild the city, unless we build on the mountains, the only other option is to level the existing urban ruins."

The deputy mayor certainly understood these circumstances. In fact, over the years, the city government has faced a major issue of land shortage during city development.

This city is surrounded by mountains, built around a lake. In the past, it was indeed a place of picturesque scenery and beautiful environment, an ideal place to live.

Plus, with the city’s population being relatively small, many did view it as an ideal place to seek their poetic dreams and distant ideals.

But those are matters of the past; in this prolonged darkness and extreme cold, the mountainous terrain has instead become a shackle restricting the survival of the survivors.

"Building shelters on the mountains... is it technically feasible?" The deputy mayor pondered for a moment, thinking that it’s best not to disturb the deceased if there are alternatives.

"Technically, it’s feasible, but you understand the snow accumulation on the mountains. Building shelters on the mountains involves major risks of avalanche," Chen Xin continued to demonstrate with a 3D schematic projected from a nano molecular device on his wrist: "If we truly want to build shelters on the mountains, the snow must be dug out, and the foundation established on or into the mountainside.

If we build directly on the snow, the shelters themselves would easily be buried in snow, and the foundation wouldn’t be stable. In such conditions, where earthquakes might still happen, it’s very possible that a total structural collapse or slide due to an avalanche could occur.

Thus, for safety reasons, the foundation must penetrate into the mountainside, or we should hollow out the mountain to build shelters inside. However, setting aside the challenges of construction difficulty, the scale of such a project would be immense."

Looking at the schematic for the shelter construction that Chen Xin presented, the deputy mayor felt bitterness on his face.

Before the disaster, although such a project would be extensive, it wouldn’t necessarily seem overwhelming as long as there was sufficient financial budget to support it, such a project could still be undertaken.

However, now, such a vast project could probably only be handled by the national government; relying solely on local capabilities would be impossible.

In fact, if it was just based on local strength, they couldn’t even manage to level the ruins to build houses now.

"Such a major affair, I can’t make the decision alone. I’ll need to convene a meeting with the municipal committee comrades to discuss and give a response." Despite being the highest leader of the city now in the absence of other key city hall leaders, the deputy mayor decided to have a meeting with others to deliberate on this issue.

"Then you can discuss it first, and meanwhile, let someone conduct a survey among the disaster victims at the resettlement points to see if they can accept leveling the city’s ruins to rebuild their homes. I’ll also think about whether there are other solutions." Chen Xin didn’t say much more but just made a suggestion.

The deputy mayor nodded affirmatively, agreeing, "This survey definitely needs to be done. We’ll fully respect the opinions of the people."

After speaking, the deputy mayor left the command room.

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"Comrade, what kind of survey are you doing?" At one of the tents at the resettlement point, a city hall staff member was stopped by someone.

This staff member was conducting a survey, but evidently, the content of the survey was somewhat hard to accept; a middle-aged woman who was just questioned had already broken down in tears.

This inevitably caused others to feel anxious, and a sense of unease gradually spread, with people in the tent whispering to each other.

The staff member hurriedly explained upon seeing the situation, "It’s a survey from city hall regarding post-disaster reconstruction. The city hall is discussing the site selection problem for post-disaster shelter construction and is conducting a public opinion survey due to some difficulties involved."

"Oh, then why is this woman crying?" The person who stopped the staff member was a young man. Looking at the woman still weeping, he asked the staff member.

In his impression, this woman was very strong. Even though she lost her husband in the earthquake, she remained resilient in taking care of her young daughter, undeterred by life’s hardships.

But now she was reduced to tears by a mere survey, which truly puzzled the young man.

The staff member sighed and handed him the survey form, signaling for him to read it himself.

The young man took the survey form, glanced at its content, and was instantly stunned.

The survey read: Can you accept the city hall leveling the urban ruins to build new shelters on top?

Additionally, it was specifically noted beneath this question: Within the ruins, approximately one hundred thousand victims’ remains cannot be collected, and the construction process will inevitably cause damage to these remains.

After carefully reading it, the young man felt as if the survey form in his hand weighed a thousand pounds and immediately understood why such a strong woman was driven to tears by a mere survey.

Because he, too, lost family and his dearest girlfriend in this earthquake.