The Relief Effort

It has now been 5 days since the earthquake. The death toll is mounting. A huge rescue effort continues in the affected areas.

For people in Chengdu, life appears to be back to normal. However, one noticeable thing is the sheer hard word and goodwill local people are putting into the relief effort. Donation stalls have sprung up all over the city, allowing people to donate money, food, clothes, tents, sleeping bags and more. The Chinese Red Cross said that they have received sufficient blood donations. And still there were queues of people waiting to be put on contact lists for to give blood. My name is down too. The same goes for volunteers. Thousands have signed up as volunteers. I signed up too. We were told that we would be notified if and when we are needed. I hope I can do something.

Most companies are collecting donations from their employees. Our department in uni organised a collection and bought a lot of milk, which we gave to the Red Cross. Also, a former student here, a doctor from England has gone to the disaster area to help out. She is part of an NGO. Today, we raised a lot of money from public donations in the local area in order to buy basic hygiene kits for the earthquake refugees.

The city of Chengdu (and the country of China) has really pulled together to help the victims. People have given a lot, often given what they cannot afford, in order to help people less fortunate than themselves. A lot of Chinese people have praised us (foreigners) for showing such support for the people of Sichuan and doing a lot to help. Well, we are all people. I love Sichuan people and do anything I can to help them.