When a powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday, Cao Lei, a Myanmar language teacher in China, quickly volunteered to translate distress messages, helping relay critical information to rescue teams.
"After the earthquake, many Chinese rescue workers struggled to quickly and accurately understand Myanmar language distress messages from those affected in Myanmar," said Cao, who teaches at Tianjin Foreign Studies University. "Prompt translation improves rescue efficiency and helps victims escape more swiftly."
In response, Myanmar language students and faculty from Beijing Language and Culture University formed an emergency language service group. They translated online distress messages into Chinese, marked key details on a map and shared it with rescue teams.
Cao joined the effort, volunteering with the Zhuoming Disaster Information Service Center to provide translation, information verification and resource coordination.
Over the weekend, he worked more than 32 hours. On Monday, after finishing his morning class, he resumed searching for and translating information online. He monitored Myanmar language reports from BBC and Voice of America, as well as Burmese media outlets like DVB and Eleven.com. He also scoured social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram and X, translating key updates into Chinese for the center.
The center processed the information and immediately relayed it to front-line Chinese rescue teams.
"The first day, I translated up to 100 messages for rescue and earthquake response points," Cao said. "Then from 8 am Sunday, I worked until 2 am Monday because we needed to grasp the 'golden 72 hours' for earthquake rescue."
Despite being thousands of kilometers away, Cao said he deeply empathizes with those seeking help, feeling their anxiety as he reads each message while translating.
"Initially, requests for assistance mainly came from commercial buildings and private residences in Mandalay, Myanmar. Later, there were also numerous requests from schools and temples. I have been racing against time to quickly and accurately convey these life-or-death messages," he said.
Before joining the university in 2013, Cao worked for four years on a hydropower project in Myanmar with a Chinese enterprise. He said the experience gave him a deep understanding of the country and a strong connection with its people.
"The earthquake has put countless lives at risk," he said. "As an educator who has worked in Myanmar and has taught the Myanmar language for many years, I feel a profound responsibility to help."
By Monday morning, China had sent several rescue teams to Myanmar, and Chinese rescuers had saved six people from quake-damaged areas.
yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn
