After a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Luding county in Southwest China’s Sichuan province on Monday, rescuers from across the province have rushed to the hardest-hit areas to help affected local people.

During the search and rescue operations, the photo of a young rescuer holding a 2-month old baby in his arms has pulled the heartstrings of many people. Zhang Zili and fellow members from the Forest Fire Brigade of Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture (自治区) discovered the baby and her grandmother trapped at their home in a village on Tuesday. The rescuers have carried the baby, who suffered as light head injury, and his grandma to safety. The baby’s father is also a firefighter who was participating in rescue operations after the quake hit the area. His mother and grandfather were seriously injured and sent to hospital.

The photo of Zhang holding the baby moved many people. Zhang was lovingly referred to as “brother Wen chuan” for the characters of “Wenchuan” on his armband, which indicates that he is from the Wenchuan squadron (中队) of the Aba forest fire brigade.

The 20-year-old is a native of Maoxian county, which is close to Wenchuan county, the epicenter(震中) of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 69, 000 people in 2008. 14 years ago, Zhang witnessed the devastating earthquake, which brought down his family’s house. He and his family lived in a temporary, shelter setup at a school playground. “I remembered the tent we lived in was dark, and I was scared,” Zhang said. Here called how emergency supplies were air-dropped from” helicopters and how soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army and rescuers helped locals get over the difficulties. “Then a uncle of the PLA came to me. He taught me songs to sing and played with me. He kept saying, “Don’t be afraid. We are here now.” The words left a deep impression on the boy’s heart.

This year, when he learnt that the local forest fire brigade was recruiting (招聘) firefighters, he did not hesitate to join it. Since then, in less than four months, he has taken part in several forest firefighting missions and rescue operations of the latest earthquake.

EARTH WEEK—A diary of the planet

Storms

Several more rounds of fierce storms, tornadoes and floods struck many parts of the American Midwest and Northeast as bad weather continued across the US for a second month.

Monsoon Storms

A south-west monsoon has caused great damage in parts of SriLanka. Government meteorologists said that unexpected monsoonal winds blew directly across the country from the southern part of the earth at about 100km/h, producing several rounds of stormy weather. Nearly 250 houses in the capital Colombo were damaged.

Mt Etna Erupts

Sicily Mount Etna volcano erupted shortly after midnight on July 1, shooting “bombs” of lave (岩浆) on the eastern side of the mountain. The 30-minute eruption could be seen for several miles but did not threaten any nearby villages.

Hurricane

Hurricane Blas lost strength as it moved over cooler waters in the Pacific Ocean to the west of Mexico. Blas formed off southwest Mexico during the last week, but the outer part of the storm swept western Michoacan State, killing four people when their wood and cardboard home fell down.

Monkey Repellent

After years of unsuccessful attempts to keep crop-eating monkeys out of Japanese fields, a Tokyo research team believes that it may have finally found a way to prevent the damage caused by the monkeys. Animal ruin of crops were successfully prevented by shooting chili powder into the air, irritating the eyes and noses of monkeys that passed in front of carefully placed warning. “We’ve tried all kinds of preventive measures, but the monkeys are bright enough to outsmart the tricks,” said Toshiaki Wada, Director of the Tokyo Forestry Experiment Station in western Tokyo.

In the aftermath of the deadliest fire California history last fall, it was difficult for anyone in the town of Paradise to find hope.

Shane Grammer paid close attention to the news of the fire’s deadly path. He felt quite powerless to help when seeing the picture shared by his childhood friend Shane Edwards in the town, in which Edwards photographed a white chimney, the only part of his house left after the fire.

“I’ve got to paint that chimney,” he said. “I’m not trying to say anything. It’s just that I’m an artist. And it was an opportunity for me to express myself and be an artist, wasn’t it?”

Grammer spent three hours spray-painting the image of a woman on the chimney in black and white, which was strikingly mysterious. Perhaps it served as a reminder of the hope of life or just life itself.

Then Grammer put its picture on social media. On seeing it, the victims of the fire could not contain themselves. “Beautiful and impressive,” one of them remarked. And another said, “You bring wonder and hope.”

At this time, Grammer became aware that something deeper had been transformed by a purely artistic expression. “When the first mural (壁画) moved so many people, I knew I had to come back,” he told the journalist. Grammer returned to Paradise eight times in three months, during which he completed 17 murals of victims and other figures, including the original one, on walls, pickups, and shards of buildings.

Today, Grammer’s efforts have developed into a movement. He has also painted murals in dark places around the world that seriously need some light.

Ironically, the first painting, on the chimney in Paradise, existed for just several months, since the bulldozer (推土机) was a merciless art critic. But Grammer couldn’t be more pleased about it, which means the spirit of Paradise is rising again.