Sichuan Earthquake Update

Archive for May, 2008

I was on the phone with Mr Hu Bei, Deputy Director of Deyang (德阳) Educational Bureau, another county near the epicentre which has been devastated by the earthquake. One of his main concerns was how quickly they can rebuild schools for the estimated 30,000 school children survived the quake. He wanted to make sure the children would be able to resume they study as soon as possible, not to miss too many lessons. According to his estimate, the school rebuilding project would cost at least 3 billion RMB (about £220 millions, US$430 millions) in Deyang County alone.

He also expressed the concern that the relief aids were not reaching the areas outside big towns quickly enough. About 60-80% of collapsed houses are in the poor rural areas, where the children need more attention and care.

Wendy Wu

CEO, Mother Bridge of Love

SichuanEarthquake.org.uk

19 May 2008

Two drawings from the six-year-old for the children in China Quake:

“Crathes Castle” by Tingting

“Drum Castle” by Tingting

*************** Mom’s letter ************

My dear friends,

Everyday I receive either phone calls or e-mails from my friends around the world asking me if my family are safe in China. I want to give a heartfelt thanks to you all for your kind thoughts and concern.

The earthquake has not just hit the people in China, but overseas Chinese too, few days on my heart feels the pain and my tears could not stop while I am watching and reading the news.

This morning, I showed my daughter Tingting some of the after quake images on the internet, and told her that so many children have now lost their Mum and Dad; they have nothing left, because the earthquake has destroyed everything around Chengdu. She was listening and looking at the photographs, then she suddenly walked away from the computer quietly and I heard her bedroom door slam shut. I instantly thought maybe some of the images were too disturbing and had upset her, I went to her room to check, when I opened the door, a touching scene strike me before my eyes:

Tingting knelt down on the floor, two hands were shaking her moneybox and some pennies had dropped on the red carpet, she saw me come in, then quickly grabbed the pennies and held them in front of me:

“Mummy, give the children my money, tell them: please buy anything they like.”

Oh! The moment, my heart was tightening and my tears rushed out like pulling rain, I hugged her with all my heart and I was completely speechless.

“Is this enough Mummy,” she looked at me and asked with her pure innocent face.

When I looked down, my tears had dropped on her little hands with few brown and silver pennies. She put them down on the floor and said let’s count them:

“One, two, three…” she earnestly counted each penny and summed them up with her small fingers:

“Eighteen… wait Mum, I have more”. She then went to her draw and found her little purse, took other few pennies out,

“Is this enough now”! She had that little worried look on her face.

I wiped out my tear but still more burst out and I could not stop. I know that she was waiting for me to confirm.

“No, my little sweetie, its not enough here,” I watched her little face with a disappointment.

“But helps. Every penny you give to them all helps, help them to buy a pencil, paper so they can draw like you. Thank you Tingting! My darling, Mum so proud of you!”

I hugged her so tight, and kissed her “Mum love you so much”.

“Mum, I want to you be happy”.

“Yes, I am happy! I am so happy you have a good and kind heart, you care about people”.

As a mother this is a best reward, and I am so proud of her, my little girl who is six years of age, who can be so considerate who has such a kind heart.

This is just a little story happened today and I would like to share with you, once again, thanks very much for your friendship. My family and friends in Chengdu are safe and well.

Here I attach the Website, a charity ” Mother Bridge of Love” www.motherbridge.org which founded by my friend Xinran, who has given her heart to help children in China, if you would like to make a donation to help the Sichuan earthquake, you could find how to do it in the website.
Alternatively contact Wendy Wu at headoffice@motherbridge.org 020 70340686 for information about MBL.

Thank you all

Love
Ping

source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSPEK338409

CHENGDU, China, May 18 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities already struggling to deal with the aftermath of Monday’s massive earthquake are now trying to cope with a flood of children orphaned by the disaster.

Over the weekend more than 140 Chinese teenagers with missing parents were moved to a university campus in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.

Experts and social workers warn that much more needs to be done to repair the deep psychological damage that they and other survivors have suffered, in an earthquake whose death toll is already approaching 30,000, and is likely to climb further.

“The students have been given the food, clothes and shelter that they need since they arrived last night. And they are now starting to think about their families. They are crying at night as they can’t find their parents,” said their teacher Zhang Ping.

“I think we have a big problem on our hands.”

Between the ages of 13 to 15, the students are from Yingxiu town, which was badly battered when the 7.9 quake rocked the southwestern province of Sichuan on Monday.

Many schools collapsed. Witnesses say they simply sank into the ground.

“The primary schools were completely flattened. My little sister is buried inside,” said Luo Xiaofung, 15. “I don’t think she could have survived.”

“We all quickly went under our tables as our teachers told us we are considered very lucky,” said Luo. Except for about 30 students and five teachers, everyone in her 1,600-strong school survived, teachers said.

SUDDEN ORPHANS

For Luo and her schoolmates, the canteen of the Chengdu Medical University will be their home for the foreseeable future.

Carpenters worked round the clock over the weekend to assemble bunk beds for the teenagers while university students removed half a dozen pool tables from the canteen to give the teenagers more space.

A large hall on an upper floor has been converted into their new dormitory with each child allotted the space of just one single mattress on the floor in the meantime.

“This is better than sleeping in a tent. It was beginning to stink (with rotting corpses) when we left Yingxiu,” said another student, Zhang Li.

Most of the students busied themselves cleaning and washing their clothes and shoes during their afternoon break.

But social workers say it will be a long time before any semblance of normalcy returns to the lives of these young people — if it happens at all.

“They may nod and agree when you tell them to be strong, but they are very hurt inside. They have lost their parents, lost everything in a flash,” said social worker Qian Guijun.

“The smaller children can’t even verbalise their feelings. They have a look of terror when you mention the earthquake. They just start tearing up.”

Many of the students were fixated on the two large TV screens installed in their dormitory, carrying news reports of the aftermath of the quake. One child turned around and hid her face, as she quietly wiped away her tears.

Thirteen-year-old Zeng Qiang, who lost his mother in the quake and is hunting for his father, asked a Reuters journalist to contact his older sister in Beijing. “Please let her know that granny and me are alive,” he said.

Yang Huijun, dean of the School of Basic Medicine, said many challenges lie ahead. Volunteers, like the Hong Kong-based Social Workers Across Borders, have approached the university to offer counseling services.

“We’ll have to work on their later problems, their emotional problems, once they settle in,” Yang said. (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

A useful link:

http://english.gov.cn/service/children.htm

 At 2:28 p.m. (7:28 a.m. UK time) Monday(May 19), Chinese citizens nationwide will stand in silence for three minutes to mourn for the victims, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships will wail in grief.

The China Seismological Bureau (CSB) Sunday ( May 18) revised the magnitude of southwest China earthquake from 7.8 to 8.0 on the Richter scale;

The death toll from magnitude 8.0 earthquake that jolted southwest China’s Sichuan Province had risen to 32,476 nationwide by 2 p.m. on Sunday and the number of injured reached 220,109

The Beijing Olympic torch relay will also be suspended from Monday to Wednesday.

source from Xin Hua 

China’s national flag flies at half-mast after the flag-raising ceremony on Tian’anmen Square in Beijing Monday morning, May 19, 2008. China on Monday begins a three-day national mourning for the tens of thousands of people killed in a powerful earthquake which struck the country’s southwest on May 12.

Source from: Xin Hua

From the website of Chinese Embassy in London:

Chinese Embassy in London opens for Condolences at the National Mourning Period
2008/05/18
The State Council of China has declared a national morning period from 19th to 21st of May, 2008 to express deep condolence to victims of the earthquakes that hit Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province. The Chinese national flag will be flown at half mast at the time. There will be a condolence book and donation box in the ground floor of the Embassy for people of all walks of life in Britain from 0900 to 1800 Monday 19th to Wednesday 21st May. Embassy staff is there to receive and provide help wherever necessary.

Chinese Embassy in London’s website has published a list of urgently needed materials in the rescue and relief actions in Sichuan earthquake.

List of Urgently Needed Materials for Earthquake Rescue and Relief
2008/05/18

1. Medicine

(1)Albumin (10g)

(2)Tramadol Hydrochloride Injection (2ml)

2.Medical Devices

(1)Hemodialysis Machine

(2) DNA Sequencer

(3).Ventilator (brands: Tyco, Drager, Newport, Siemens)

(4).Rechargeable Bedside X-ray Machine (brands: Shimadzu, Siemens, GE)

(5).ECG, Multi-functional Monitor (brands: Philips, GE, Siemens, Drager)

II. Search and Rescue Equipment

(more…)

The Chinese Students & Scholars Association (CSSA-QMUL) at Queen Mary and Mother’s Bridge of Love (MBL) are organizing an On-Compus Fundraiser for the Help Children in China Quake project, which aims to help children and orphanages in the disaster area.

CSSA-QMUL and MBL are making an urgent appeal to all to donate money for the disaster relief, targeting at helping the SUFFERING CHILDREN SPECIFICALLY. We thank for friends who already called, donated money and shared their concerns. We are calling for more people to join the rescue action.

On-Campus donation and Charity Sales will take place on Tue 20th May 08, between 11am and 4pm,

at Queen Mary Campus, in front of the library .

If you are having any suggestions please contact the CSSA at qmcn.info@googlemail.com . The CSSA has a Chinese language forum at www. qmcn.org/bbs and the earthquake thread is http://www.qmcn.org/bbs/read.php?tid=4228

Yours Sincerely,
CSSA-QMUL, MBL

In the last a couple days, many media organisations have arrived Beichuan (北川), one of the mountainous counties devastated by the earthquake. Reading and watching news from UK, if appears there are several camera crews from BBC, Sky and some press in Beichuan.

Feedbacks from our local correspondents and volunteers, however, indicate that the media are largely concentrated in the large town centres. While there are many rescue and relief work going on in the most populated area, people in the surrounding small towns and villages also need help. There are some rescue and relief workers there, but because of the lack of access or information, we seldom heard their stories and what they need.

China has mobilised rescue and medical workers from all over the country. Some drove their trucks or ambulances for thousands of miles to reach the disaster area. There are also numbers of volunteer groups, often self-organised through the internet, working on small and specific projects. We hope we can report back to you in the coming days.

SichuanEarthquake.org.uk

18 May 2008

URGENT CALL – SAVE PEOPLE FROM CHINESE EARTHQUAKE
15-05-08

The death toll caused by earthquake is nearly 15,000 and looks set to rise in the disaster area- SiChuan. 10,000 people were thought to remain buried and massive landslides had buried roads to outlying villages. A lot of pupils are buried by the collapsed school buildings too.
The local authorities spoke that water, clothes, medicine, and food are mostly needed. Long haul travel is not recommended at this moment due to seriously damaged local traffic.

The Chinese Students & Scholars Association (CSSA) at Queen Mary has started calling for help and donations. The CSSA has circulated e-mails regarding the call among Chinese students and many of them have already sent their donations. It is now time to join all our forces and help those who are suffering. Recommendations on the methods of donations are in the following.

The Chinese Embassy in the UK has set up a dedicated bank account for donation to the SiChuan Earthquake. Donations can be made through money transfer or cheques. Details of the donation including account details can be found on the Chinese Embassy’s website
http://uk.china-embassy.org/eng/sghd/t434619.htm

Alternatively the British Red Cross has also started a program to appeal for help on the SiChuan Earthquake since yesterday. Donations can be made online through the British Red Cross website at http://www.redcross.org.uk/news.asp?id=81083

To help children and orphanages in the disaster area, along with Chinese Embassy, Mother Bridge of Love (MBL) is also making an urgent appeal to all to donate money for the disaster relief, targeting at helping the SUFFERING CHILDREN SPECIFICALLY. MBL thank for friends who called, donated money and shared their concerns. They are calling for more people to join the rescue action.

Last year, MBL donated money to the flood-hit area in Sichuan directly. They will guarantee that 100% of the donation will be sent to Sichuan again to urgently save the life of Children. Their focus will be helping children to recover from physical and physiological damage. A website dedicated to the SiChuan Earthquake has been also set up by MBL at http://sichuanearthquake.org.uk/

To make a donation to help the MBL at this moment; the efficient way is to support their Edinburgh Marathon Runners. Please go to website: www.justgiving.com/rbsjames to give your contributions. Any other form of support you could provide please contact MBL through headoffice@motherbridge.org 020 70340686

If you are having any suggestions please contact the CSSA at qmcn.info@googlemail.com . The CSSA has a Chinese language forum at www. qmcn.org/bbs and the earthquake thread is http://www.qmcn.org/bbs/read.php?tid=4228

Yours Sincerely,
CSSA-QM