It started with the provision of a list of officials' telephone numbers, but before long reporters were sitting side-by-side with officials, closely monitoring the progress of the rescue efforts.
As the southwest Yingjiang County buzzed with rescue and relief work after the 5.8-magnitude hit the county, local authorities demonstrated their commitment to transparency as China battled natural disasters.
"We welcome media supervision in our disbursement of relief funds and materials, and we must thank the journalists for finding our mistakes," said Chen Dejin, a spokesman for the local disaster relief agency.
Chen made the remarks during Tuesday's press conference after a Caijing Magazine reporter challenged the official account of the earthquake victims.
The reporter identified two victims that were mistakenly registered on the list. The local government earlier published the victim list, which contained the names and basic information of the 25 residents who died due to the earthquake.
The exposure prompted an immediate investigation from the government, and it took just two hours for a corrected version to be handed out and updated online.
Yingjiang, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, caught national attention early this month after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit the county, leaving 25 dead and 314 injured.
As more than 200 local and foreign reporters hurried to the devastated region, they experienced an unprecedented level of access from the authorities.
"The publicity department had liaisons stationed in the media center to help journalists arrange interviews," said Chen.
"Reporters also enjoyed unrestricted access to the headquarters of the disaster relief agency, so our work was completely open to the public," said Chen.
Chen said that the higher level of media engagement helped deter any accusations of cover-up or malpractice by local officials.
As of Thursday, the central and provincial government of Yunnan had disbursed more than 100 million yuan (15 million U.S. dollars) of relief funds to the quake-hit region.
Furthermore, the small county also received a donation of 8.7 million yuan (1.3 million U.S. dollars) from home and abroad.
Apart from welcoming media scrutiny, local officials also increased the publicity for relief disbursement under the supervision of local residents.
"We dispatched 35 inspectors to monitor the whereabouts of the relief funds and materials, and then we put our records at the relocation sites for checking," said Jiang Jialiu, the deputy secretary of the local discipline inspection authority.
"Also, we placed televisions to inform the residents of what they're entitled to," said Jiang.
In hard-hit Lameng Dai ethnic village, residents were housed in tents under a big banyan, which is considered the protective god by local residents. Every household is eligible for a set quota of daily necessities.
"We left our fingerprints after we checked the list of relief materials and found no mistake," said Jin Heming, a 53-year-old peasant, while pointing to a poster filled with red fingerprints.
"We paid return visits to the tents of recipients to see whether the materials had been delivered to the right people," said Dao Anmei, the head of the audit bureau of Yingjiang.
Local officials are now considering announcing the reconstruction plan to the public.
"That definitely means more troubles and extra work, but we hope it can reassure local residents and dispel any unnecessary concerns," said Jiang.
