The sudden onslaught of the "8·26" mudslide disaster in Gyirong county triggered an intense and urgent relief effort. While professional rescue teams rushed to the front lines, the residents of Gyirong Town also mobilized spontaneously.

Along the streets, shop owners put up heartwarming notices offering free supplies to rescue workers. Red volunteer tents sprang up on roadsides, and convenience service points dotted the alleys. People fromall ethnicgroups—shopkeepers, villagers, andvolunteers—extended a helping hand. There were no grand, heroic gestures—just a bowl of sweet tea, a bag of potatoes, a place to rest. Yet these small, everyday acts of kindness came together to form a warm current of solidarity in a time of shared hardship.

In the wake of the disaster, heartening scenes quickly emerged across Gyirong Town. Many shop doors displayed notices offering free provisions to rescue personnel.

Red volunteer tents lined both sides of the roads, and service points of all sizes appeared in every corner. Ordinary storefronts transformed into cozy rest stops—some offering hot water, others providing phone-charging services. People from all ethnic groups came together spontaneously, each contributing what they could to the relief effort.

28-year-old Dekyi Yangzom, a local of Gyirong, runs a tea house and a clothing store. When the disaster struck, she was in Xigaze. Upon learning of the calamity and hearing that her sister-in-law was missing, she was overcome with anxiety and immediately rushed back to Gyirong Town.

Upon her return, Ma Yiheiya and other Hui Muslim merchants from the Gansu-Qinghai Chamber of Commerce approached her to discuss setting up a volunteer service point. "We've always lived side by side in harmony. Hearing them propose this in such a time made me all the more grateful," Dekyi Yangzom recalled.

When crisis descended, this long-standing bond of friendship translated into tangible action.

The Gansu-Qinghai Chamber of Commerce took the lead in establishing a collective volunteer service point, stocking it with supplies they had gathered and organizing young Hui volunteers to work in shifts. The service point operated around the clock, providing hot water and phone-charging services to frontline personnel including police and firefighters.

"Our chamber has dozens of street-side merchants taking shifts around the clock, with volunteers on duty day and night. In those first few frantic days, we often stayed until late at night. We kept the water warm so that anyone could come and get it at any time," said Ma Baoxiang, a volunteer from the chamber.

Meanwhile, Dekyi Yangzom contributed butter tea and sweet tea from her tea house to the volunteer service point. Rescue workers who came to her store to buy clothing and skincare products were charged only the cost price. 

She also shared that her younger brother had joined the relief effort, leaving home at 6 a.m. each morning to haul rocks and not returning until around 11 p.m.—so much so that the siblings rarely crossed paths at home. "Whenever they need more hands, I sign up right away. I want to do my part," she said.

The kindness radiating from the town also traveled along winding mountain roads to every corner of the affected area.

"Come get your potatoes!"—a simple call rang out at the Jifu village resettlement site. Tsamjo, a villager from Xinjiang village in Gyirong Town, along with several other women from her village, arrived on two three-wheeled vehicles to distribute boiled potatoes to those staying at the site. 

Tsamjo told reporters that upon learning the resettlement site was housing a large number of displaced people, she and a few friends loaded up potatoes grown in their own village along with homemade chili sauce, carrying with them the goodwill of the entire community. Xinjiang Village and Jifu Village are several kilometers apart, and though the mountain roads are rugged, they could not sever the neighborly bonds of mutual support.

The potatoes and chili sauce sent by the villagers of Xinjiang Village brought a touch of warmth to daily life at the resettlement site. Meanwhile, within the village, a support service organized spontaneously by local women was also taking shape with great urgency.

Sonam Drolma is the women's director of Jifu Village. Now 53, she has held the position for 20 years and has been re-elected by popular vote five consecutive times. A native of Salle Town, she knows the local villagers well.

When the disaster struck, she immediately reached out through every channel she could, deeply concerned for the safety of her fellow villagers. After the evacuees were transferred to the Jifu Village resettlement site, seeing them settled in, she mobilized the village women to provide services for those at the site.

At her initiative, 18 women quickly assembled, with all ingredients procured from their own resources. They divided the work among themselves—cleaning the resettlement site, cooking three meals a day, and even delivering food by electric scooter.

Beyond meeting basic living needs, they placed special emphasis on offering psychological comfort. They focused particular attention on the elderly, visiting each household to deliver tsampa and butter tea while also soothing their anxieties with tender, meticulous care.

"Don't worry. With the Party and the government here, everything will be all right," Sonam Drolma would reassure the elderly who were struggling to find peace of mind. She often sat down to listen to their stories, using simple, heartfelt words to ease their unease. "We're all fellow villagers. The more we can help, the better. Seeing everyone settled—that's when we can finally rest easy," she said.

Natural disasters are merciless, but humanity is not. From the heartwarming notices posted along the streets to the volunteer stations that stood watch day and night; from the potatoes and chili sauce sent from neighboring villages to the mutual support found within the resettlement sites—people of all ethnic groups, standing together as one, warmed one another through countless small acts. Each faint glimmer of kindness, brought together, became the most moving force in Gyirong.

Reporters:Tseji, Wang Yifei, Liu Qianru, Ngawang Nyima, Ngodrup Tsering, Sonam Dola, Lhapa Drolma, Phuntsog Nyidron, Quan Wenjuan

Translator: Yeshi Tsomo, Zheng Yujie

First Reviewer: Zhi Xinghua

Second Reviewer: Drakpa Wangchen

Third Reviewer: Hu Rongguo