66-year-old man from Baoding travels to Xingtai disaster area to volunteer repairing appliances

"Whose appliances are broken? Free repairs." Recently, in 12 disaster-stricken villages in the Xingtai Development Zone, an elderly man of short stature could be seen everywhere, carrying a toolbox on his back and a tool bag in his hand, shouting loudly.

Daxian Village is one of the most severely affected villages in the Xingtai Development Zone. After the flood, local officials, residents and reconstruction workers have already begun post-disaster clearing of silt.

Hearing the shouting, villagers gathered around the elderly man. "My refrigerator, color TV and washing machine were all soaked in water and are unusable. I'm really worried!" "Register one by one, I'll come to your door and repair them for free." The elderly man took a small notebook out of his pocket and carefully wrote down the details.

The elderly man told reporters his name is Wu Hechun, a native of Baoding, Hebei. He is 66 this year and a retired employee of the Baoding Electric Power Manufacturing Plant.

"Two days ago, after learning from TV that Xingtai had been hit by floods, I hurried over from the Yancheng, Jiangsu tornado disaster area." Wu Hechun said this trip to Xingtai was his 22nd time participating in disaster relief.

In 1976, at just 25 years old, he took part in the rescue efforts for the Tangshan earthquake. Since then, Wu Hechun began his long journey of volunteer service in disaster areas.

Tangshan, Wenchuan, Yushu, Laiyuan, Yiliang, Yuyao... Over 40 years, the elderly man has traveled hundreds of thousands of kilometers, rushing to earthquake and mudslide disaster areas for rescue. He has rescued people from earthquake ruins and mudslides, and repaired more than 2,000 appliances free of charge for people in disaster areas.

While chatting with reporters, the elderly man's hands were not idle. In less than half an hour, the appliance was repaired.

"My washing machine was damaged by water soaking. Can it be fixed?" villager Zhang Jiangang asked. "Why not? Let's go take a look!" As he spoke, Wu Hechun picked up his toolbox.

A twin-tub washing machine was placed in the entrance passage of Zhang Jiangang's home. Wu Hechun opened the toolbox he carried with him, took out a screwdriver, and unscrewed the screws on the back cover of the washing machine one by one.

Again in less than half an hour, Wu Hechun was heard saying: "Done, plug it in and try it!" "That simple?" Zhang's father took the washing machine plug and plugged it in, turned on the washing machine switch, and the washing machine really started running.

"Floodwater got into the bearings of the washing machine motor, so the motor couldn't turn. Open the back cover of the washing machine, turn the bearings forcefully, the bearings loosen up, and once powered on it can work again." Patting the mud off his hands and wiping sweat from his face, Wu Hechun said that most water-damaged appliances can be repaired. The weather has been good these past few days, and villagers would be best to move flood-soaked appliances outside for ventilation and drying. Open the refrigerator door to let air circulate, and dry the back of the TV. To be safe, villagers should not dismantle appliances on their own.

"As long as villagers in the disaster area need me, I will use my skills to serve everyone and recover property losses for the disaster area to the greatest extent possible. This is my 22nd time participating in disaster relief. I just want to use my greatest efforts to contribute to the reconstruction of the disaster area." Wu Hechun said.