Sichuan, a land of picturesque mountains and rivers, rich in natural treasures. The unique topography and landforms here create winding mountains and beautiful scenery. Sichuan is located in the transition zone between the first-level Tibetan Plateau and the second-level Yangtze River middle and lower reaches plain, with significant elevation differences; the collision of the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Ocean Plate results in complex geological structures and intense seismic activity. Coupled with the extreme climate of the Western Sichuan rain shield, various geological disasters frequently occur, posing a serious threat to the safety of people's lives and property.
Originating from the military, Achieving the 'Iron Army' Hardcore
In Sichuan, there is a geological iron army that dares to outsmart and confront geological disasters — the Huadi Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Geological and Mineral Exploration and Development (hereinafter referred to as Huadi Company).
Huadi Company was formed from the 93rd Brigade of the People's Liberation Army's Basic Construction Engineering Corps, undertaking hydrological geological survey tasks in the southwest region of the motherland during its glorious years. After collectively transitioning in 1983, it was reorganized into the Chengdu Hydrological Geological Engineering Geological Center of the former Ministry of Geological and Mineral Resources. In 1999, according to the requirements of the localization of the Ministry of Geological and Mineral Resources, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Geological and Mineral Exploration and Development (hereinafter referred to as Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Geology). In early 2001, to adapt to the requirements of market economic development, the Party Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Geology decided to merge the Chengdu Hydrological Geological Engineering Geological Center with Sichuan Huadi Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., implementing a management model of 'one team, two signs'.
Site of the Bai Shui He Major Landslide Treatment Project in Ningnan County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province
Over the past forty-six years, the inheritance of the people's army's genes and the professional quality of the geological team have resulted in Huadi Company forming a series of experienced and skilled professional technical teams in the field of geological disaster prevention and control, establishing an indestructible 'hardcore'. Huadi Company has undertaken a series of urgent, difficult, dangerous, and heavy exploration, design, planning, and construction tasks, protecting hundreds of thousands of people and assets worth about 5 billion yuan. It has made significant contributions to protecting the safety of people's lives and property and the economic and social development, receiving multiple national and provincial-level commendations, and rightfully earning the title of the iron army on the geological front.
Emergency Rescue, Charging into Battle
The essential lesson for Huadi people is to race against time. On May 12, 2008, a strong earthquake struck Wenchuan. Huadi Company quickly organized three emergency investigation teams, continuously crossing the Jiajin Mountain and Mengbi Mountain along the route of the Red Army's Long March, traversing the 'Gur Gorge' life-and-death line... The people in the earthquake-stricken area of Wenchuan saw the team members from Huadi Company arriving and excitedly shouted: 'The geological team members are here, that means help is here.' In just a few days, Huadi Company identified 1,077 geological disaster hidden danger points and urgently relocated and evacuated 115,800 people.
On June 24, 2017, a major landslide occurred in Diexi Town, Maoxian County. Huadi Company arrived at the scene at the first opportunity, undertaking emergency investigation and rescue monitoring and early warning, and assessment tasks. Drones, high-definition remote sensing, geological radar, GNAA systems, and integrated aerial and ground efforts were employed. To clarify the disaster situation at the mountain top, the command center specially organized a 'sharp knife team'. However, due to the steepness and danger of the mountain, only the team members from Huadi Company successfully reached the summit, and the images they transmitted provided scientific basis for command decision-making.
Due to Huadi Company's fearless and in-depth work in the disaster areas during the '5.12' Wenchuan earthquake, '4.20' Lushan earthquake, '4.25' Nepal (Shigatse) earthquake, '8.8' Jiuzhaigou earthquake, '6.17' Changning earthquake, and other earthquakes, leveraging its professional advantages to carry out post-earthquake geological disaster emergency investigations, rescue, monitoring, exploration design, and construction, it has been awarded the title of Sichuan Provincial Geological Disaster Emergency Rescue Team.
Comprehensive Prevention and Control, Scientific Disaster Management
After forty-six years of honing, Huadi Company can effectively manage various types of geological disaster prevention and control, responding to floods and landslides.
Xuanhan County, Sichuan Province, home to Asia's largest integrated natural gas field and the birthplace of the mysterious and brilliant Ba culture. On September 5, 2004, the county was hit by a once-in-200-years torrential rain, causing a massive rock landslide of 65 million cubic meters, blocking the river and forming a barrier lake, submerging numerous houses and leaving 16,000 people homeless. Huadi Company was urgently tasked and creatively applied a comprehensive treatment plan of 'underground drainage pressure reduction + front support to prevent sliding + slope surface leveling to prevent seepage + farmland and forest land reclamation'. After more than 100 days of hard work, they successfully contained the landslide.
On August 13, 2010, frequent rainstorms in the Wenchuan area led to the concentrated outbreak of multiple major debris flows, threatening to slice the newly reborn Wenchuan Yingxiu into three parts. Huadi Company bravely took on the responsibility and participated in the investigation, design, and treatment of five major debris flows. It can be said that undertaking such a large number, scale, and urgent geological disaster investigation and design treatment at once is an unprecedented feat.
Without the right tools, one should not take on delicate tasks. The mudslide treatment project in Hongchungou and Shaofangou is recognized as a world-class challenge in the industry. The high construction risk and difficulty have left experts in awe. For the Shaofangou mudslide with a maximum slope of 80 degrees, Huadi people adopted a treatment plan of 'upstream valley dams intercepting water and stabilizing slopes, midstream pile and wall drainage guiding channels solidifying the creek, and downstream grid dams locking slides'; for the Hongchungou mudslide, they implemented a treatment plan of 'graded interception, solid source sedimentation, and solid bed drainage'. The completion of these two major mudslide projects has built a strong defense for the new homes of the Yingxiu people and established a scientific model for large-scale mudslide treatment projects. As a research and teaching field base, it attracts a continuous stream of visitors for observation and learning.
Emergency rescue site of the major landslide in Xinmo Village, Diexi Town, Maoxian County, Aba Prefecture, Sichuan Province
The emergency treatment project for the Qipan Gully debris flow undertaken by Huadi Company has created two 'Sichuan records' and one 'national record'. The No. 1 dam is 25 meters high and 181 meters long, setting the record for the longest and largest scale debris flow treatment dam in the country.
Jiuzhaigou, known as the earthly paradise. In the post-disaster reconstruction and the management of hidden dangers in scenic areas, Huadi Company actively explores new technologies and methods for landscape ecological restoration and protection, eliminating hidden dangers while preserving the natural landscape and creating new tourist spots. If the previous geological disaster construction was about rebuilding on ruins, then this construction is about carving on treasures. Huadi Company's skilled hands have truly achieved a magnificent rebirth of Jiuzhaigou after its 'makeup', realizing that 'all hardships are training, and all destruction is creation.'
Scientific monitoring, accurate early warning
Huadi Company not only undertakes the inspection, investigation, surveying, design, and management of geological disasters but also dares to be a pioneer in geological disaster monitoring. It is the first geological survey team in the province to carry out specialized monitoring of geological disasters. With precise monitoring services and a reliable geological disaster monitoring system, it provides technical support for disaster response decision-making, safeguarding the lives and property of local people.
Huadi Company's geological disaster monitoring equipment consists of various types of integrated monitoring station equipment, 4G/5G mobile communication transmission systems, geological disaster monitoring application platforms, database systems, and supporting infrastructure. After years of trials and explorations, it has accumulated rich experience in geological disaster monitoring and has played an important role in reducing casualties and property losses in geological disaster prevention and control. In August 2010, during the Yingxiu defense battle, Huadi Company established the province's first automated monitoring and early warning station for debris flows, accurately forecasting the imminent occurrence of large-scale debris flows.
When the piercing alarm echoed through the valley, over 2,000 rescue warriors evacuated urgently and orderly, safe and sound. After the '8·8' Jiuzhaigou earthquake in 2017, the 'Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area Geological Disaster Professional Monitoring and Early Warning System Construction Project Implementation Plan' undertaken by Huadi Company designed a multi-level, multi-layered three-dimensional professional monitoring and early warning system for the Jiuzhaigou scenic area and local government, ensuring the safety of the scenic area comprehensively. During the once-in-60-years heavy rainfall in Shimen County, Sichuan Province in 2018, Huadi Company, as the technical unit conducting geological disaster professional monitoring in Shimen County, issued early warnings and successfully relocated 42 households and 110 people from the Jiefanggou debris flow danger zone in Dawan Village, Xieluo Tibetan Township on '6·26', and 8 households and 28 people from the landslide danger zone in Lashi Village, Fengle Township on '7·29', avoiding casualties.
Huadi Company has achieved geological disaster early warning and forecasting, making geological disasters no longer sudden, and has made unremitting efforts. On August 21, 2020, around 3:20 AM, a landslide suddenly occurred in Group 6 of Zhonghai Village, Fuquan Town, Hanyuan County, Ya'an City. To ensure the smooth progress of the emergency rescue work on site, according to the requirements of the Sichuan Provincial Emergency Management Department, Huadi Company immediately dispatched elite personnel in the field of geological disasters, carrying professional equipment such as slope radars to conduct professional monitoring day and night, successfully warning of one landslide and a secondary collapse disaster. Thanks to the timely warning, no damage was caused to personnel or equipment on site.
In August 2020, Huadi Company completed the pilot project for the universal monitoring and early warning equipment for geological disasters in 2020 by the Ministry of Natural Resources - the trial service project for universal monitoring and early warning equipment for geological disasters in Danba County. This project conducts research on multi-parameter comprehensive early warning models and the refinement of early warning thresholds, which will help establish a high-speed information channel for 'real-time monitoring - intelligent early warning - rapid response - efficient disposal - scientific management', and assist in building a monitoring and early warning system with 'graded responsibility + dynamic scheduling + on-site verification' at the provincial, municipal, and county levels, achieving closed-loop management of monitoring, early warning, and response disposal.
Technology Tower, Talent as the Foundation
If the technology of an organization is likened to a tower, then the talent that keeps this tower from collapsing is technological talent. After more than 40 years of honing in geological disaster prevention and control, Huadi Company has accumulated a wealth of experience and technical achievements in disaster prevention and control, while also cultivating a group of highly skilled, innovative, and capable leading talents. Currently, the company has over 200 professional technical personnel with master's degrees or higher, more than 100 experts in the field of geological disaster prevention and control, and over 300 technical backbones. Three individuals have been selected as 'Sichuan Province Academic and Technical Leaders', and five as 'Sichuan Province Young Science and Technology Talents'. At the same time, the company has a complete professional technical talent system, with a coordinated and comprehensive talent system in geological disaster prevention and control, remote sensing surveying and mapping, geographic information technology, and 3D modeling.
The company inherits the glorious traditions and fine styles of the people's army, earning the reputation of the 'Iron Army of Geological and Mineral Resources'. It has successively won the titles of 'Pioneering Workers in Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction', 'National May 1st Labor Award', and 'First Hundred Strong Geological Teams in China'; it has been rated as an 'Advanced Collective in Geological Disaster Prevention and Control Work in Sichuan Province' five times and received the 'National Advanced Collective for Professional and Technical Talents' awarded by the Central Organization Department and three other departments in 2014.
Technology leads, innovation drives
With talent, technological innovation has energy. Huadi Company always adheres to the principle that science and technology are the primary productive forces, and innovation is the primary driving force, promoting the interaction between production, education, and research. It has successively established the 'Sichuan Provincial Engineering Technology Research Institute for Geological Disaster Prevention and Control', 'Key Technology Innovation Studio for Geological Disaster Prevention and Control of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Geological and Mineral Resources', and 'Jiuzhaigou Geological Disaster Prevention and Control Research Center', and has been approved as a 'Postdoctoral Innovation Practice Base in Sichuan Province' among several geological research and innovation platforms.
Huadi Company has long focused on geological disaster prevention and control work, with technical strength at the national leading level. It has participated in more than 100 national major special projects, the national '973' program, the National Natural Science Foundation, and major provincial and ministerial scientific research projects. With its strong influence in the field of geological disaster prevention and control, Huadi Company has taken the lead in collaborating with more than a dozen domestic universities and research institutions on the national key scientific research project 'Comprehensive Prevention and Control Technology and Application for Major Debris Flows in Strong Earthquake Areas'. It has compiled more than 10 standards and technical guidelines in the field of geological disaster prevention and control, participated in drafting the 'Landslide Prevention Design Specification (GBT 38509-2020)', and has won multiple excellent results in geological disaster investigation and design. It has published one monograph on geological disaster prevention and control, published over 30 papers, and published more than 10 papers in SCI and Chinese core journals, and has been granted two practical patents. With its outstanding professional technology, the unit has received one second prize for national scientific and technological progress, one first prize and seven second prizes for provincial and ministerial scientific and technological progress, and 30 third prizes.
Based on traditional geological work, in recent years, Huadi Company has made full use of high-tech, increasing investment in areas such as aerial and space information technology, regional surface deformation monitoring, and three-dimensional modeling above and below ground, forming teams to further enhance business capabilities and expand business scope.
Currently, Huadi Company has good applications in technologies such as optical remote sensing, 3D photogrammetry, synthetic aperture radar (InSAR), LiDAR, drone aerial surveying, and ground monitoring. It has established a mature technical system for rapid emergency response and multi-level, multi-temporal three-dimensional observation of target areas, with rich experience. In the future, it will further expand in automatic identification and prediction of geological disasters, as well as independent platform development, playing a driving and leading role in geological technological innovation, and better serving economic and social development.
Cao Nan, the general manager of Huadi Company, stated that in the grand system construction of disaster prevention and reduction, we geologists need to use our mission to sound the alarm for life, and we need to use the most "hardcore" technological strength to protect the property of the people from the invasion of disasters. This is driven by our original intention, and it is also a call of the times.
Website editor: Gong Li