Memoir: Experiencing and Reflecting on the Hankou Flood Disaster

This essay is a personal memoir by a student reflecting on the devastating Hankou flood, a major natural disaster in China. The author recounts childhood memories of the event, including the widespread destruction, loss of life, and the lasting impact on the community. The memoir describes the author's experiences, such as the closure of schools and offices, the destruction of familiar places, and the loss of friendships. The author also reflects on the values learned from the flood, such as the importance of hope, action, and appreciating the present. The essay incorporates personal anecdotes, vivid descriptions of the environment, and references to relevant literature. The memoir concludes with the author's current perspective and the enduring memories of the flood, highlighting the resilience of the human spirit and the significance of cherishing the past.

Running head: MEMOIR
MEMOIR
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note
Flood of Hankou
"Do not anxiously hope for that which is not yet come; do not vainly regret what is already
lost"
After the flood, it was hard for me to get adjusted into the reality of the situation. I was
born and raised at Hankou, and I have seen a lot of monsoon in my city. There were times when
my mother used to drop me at school and the streets were filled with knee deep water. But during
the year of middle school, I witnessed which were not only the most catastrophic floods in
China, but it was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. The Yellow, Yangtze and
Haui River overflowed and over than 5 million people lost their homes and over than 3 million
people died of starvation and disease (Long et al, 2014). I was very young when the disaster
occurred and I have very little memories of the actual flood, but what I remember is that some
people called that event the worst natural disaster that occurred in China.
My residence was far away from the danger prone areas but the effects were felt all over
the country. It was a national emergency and all schools and office were closed for several

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weeks. When things started to get normal I heard in the news that the government was initiating
many projects like dams and bridges all across the country. It was a necessary measure for the
time being as the country needed as much help needed (Lin and Gu, 2016). While on the way to
my school I saw the distress and the damage everywhere, as if there were remains leftover after a
war. There used to be many houses on the way to the school but it were all destroyed and swept
away by the flood. There were a small store candy stall on the road where all the students used to
buy sweets from and it was operated by an old man, he always had a pet cat whenever we went
to the store. However on that day there was nothing there, my mother told me that the old man
had relocated to somewhere else and I believe her. There were many things I loved to see on the
way to school but they were all gone, some of them had debris remaining and some had no sign
of it, it felt like that all the childhood memories I had of a wonderful place were all gone. After
reaching school I saw that the school was not damaged as it was far away from the rivers but I
did not see many of the students and teachers there. One of the teachers explained that because of
flood, many had left the city and many of their homes were destroyed. Just before the flood, I
met a young boy for the first time, we had many things in common and we became good friends
in the first day. As a token of friendship, he gave me a hand-made friendship card, and I told him
that I would make one for him, however due to the flood and its consequences I was not able to
come to school after that day. I brought a hand-made card for him but I could not find him
anywhere. I never knew what happened to that boy; the only thing I have left is his card with
pencil drawn art of the small village where the school was located. Though it was hand drawn
and colored with crayons, it was the only image I had of the beautiful neighborhood which it
used to be.

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The teachers sat with us and told us that we should all keep hope and things will be back
to normal. We the students helped the locality by planting trees and cleaning the environment
and we donated charity to the school so that it would be sent to the government to help the
victims who were affected by the flood (Juan, 2013). The great flood took a lot of things from
me, however it also taught me some values of life. I realized that I should not just keep hope that
things would get better, but we had to act to make things better. Even a building cannot be built
in a single day, it needed to be structured properly and it takes time. Also, I learned that I should
not regret the cheerful days when I used to see the candy man and his cat, or the beautiful
country sides on my way to school or even the boy who approached me for friendship.
Nowadays I work in a small company east of Hankou and I have to pass through the same route
where my school used to be (Lian and Ma, 2013). Hankou is now a large city but I have the
memories my childhood engraved in an old piece of paper which my friend gave me. The colors
are of the crayons may have faded from the card; however they are still bright and evergreen in
my mind.
.

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REFERENCES
Wang, Lin, and Wei Gu. "The Eastern China flood of June 2015 and its causes." Science bulletin 61.2
(2016): 178-184.
Du, Juan, et al. "Analysis of dry/wet conditions using the standardized precipitation index and its potential
usefulness for drought/flood monitoring in Hunan Province, China." Stochastic environmental research
and risk assessment 27.2 (2013): 377-387.
Long, Di, et al. "Drought and flood monitoring for a large karst plateau in Southwest China using extended
GRACE data." Remote Sensing of Environment 155 (2014): 145-160.
Lian, J. J., K. Xu, and C. Ma. "Joint impact of rainfall and tidal level on flood risk in a coastal city with a
complex river network: a case study of Fuzhou City, China." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 17.2
(2013): 679.