Updates from HTS and LWB
As I reported yesterday, HTS (Half the Sky) reports that they have had contact with the Chengdu, Chongqing and Yibin orphanages and that all is well. The children were all evacuated until the tremors passed, the buildings suffered no great damage, and no children were injured. This morning they note that the children have once again been removed from the Chengdu orphanage due to the aftershocks.
Half the Sky reports that they will be working with The Ministry of Civil Affairs to help the children impacted by the earthquake. They already have a working relationship with the MoCA, and it turns out that the MoCA is responsible for disaster relief as well as being over the CCAA.
Neither the MoCA nor HTS have been able to reach the orphanages in the most affected areas: Mianyang, Zitong, Deyang and Aba. They report that each of those four institutions house about 100 children.
Jenny Bowen at HTS notes that help for children may well be needed outside welfare institutions, and they have been given assurance by the MoCA that they will be able to deliver aid where it is most desperately needed. They intend to help provide temporary and long term care to the children affected, including emergency shelter, food, and medical care for children orphaned or separated from their families. They have set up an Earthquake Fund, if you’d like to help them then go to their website: http://www.halfthesky.org/
LWB (Love without Boundaries) is also involved and is posting updates about individual programs as they get the information. As of now they report that the children at the Deyang SWI are safe and that there was minor damage to the building. They say that the Mama’s Wish teachers and students have all been accounted for and are safe. Also, all of the children in the Zhaotong Foster Care program are safe. They have a disaster relief fund set up as well.
May 13th, 2008 at 10:16 am
So sad-just heard on the radio this morning that the death toll is expected to exceed 12,000, perhaps 18,000+. My large China only agency is reporting that several orphanages in the Sichuan and Chongqing provinces that they receive referrals from regularly have been directly affected. (not sure which orphanages exactly or what damage they have incurred, however) They have also set up a relief fund. Glad to hear that China is welcoming aid.