In response to a direct request for international humanitarian assistance by the Sichuan Province Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (SFPA) late Sunday afternoon, Mercy Relief (MR) deployed its first response team on the same night to Sichuan. The 3-man team headed towards Lushan County after locally procuring the first tranche of necessary relief supplies comprising blankets, milk and hygiene essentials including baby diapers and sanitary napkins.
Commenting from Lushan County, MR Senior Programme Manager for China, Tsai Pi Kuang shared, “MR has been continuously implementing relief and development projects in Sichuan province since the Wenchuan earthquake of 2008. Whilst all of our projects are safe from the latest quake, the devastation at Lushan and Baoxing is quite widespread where more than 240,000 are currently displaced, with limited shelter, water and food. These are the needs that MR is currently focusing on.”
A second response team arrived Chengdu on Monday afternoon to support the coordination of more relief supplies, including tarpaulins for shelters and food items, to the other worst-hit county of Baoxing, located more than 200km away from Sichuan’s capital city. The total value of the relief supplies is worth RMB250,000 (SGD50,000) to support the local authorities in addressing the critical areas of needs on the ground.
Pi Kuang added, “It is also critical that aid is extended early across all groups of victims, particularly amongst the most vulnerable – children, women and the elderly. With pouring rains expected to continue over the next few days, the survivors are susceptible to being exposed to the natural elements and hazards including mudslides, landslides and epidemics. The mudslides and landslides are also causing a tremendous challenge in terms of accessibility to the affected communities.”
(left) MR Senior Manager Tsai Pi Kuang assessing the first tranche of relief supplies comprising blankets, milk and hygiene essentials including baby diapers and sanitary napkins.
(right) Aid supplies ready to be unloaded in worst-hit Lushan county, catering to vulnerable groups including children and women.
Working alongside Ya’an’s Disaster Reduction Committee of the Department of Civil Affairs and the SFPA, more than two tonnes of relief supplies reached the devastated county of Lushan.
The first response team witnessed the extent of the devastation. Wet weather conditions further expose displaced victims to secondary disasters such as mudslides, landslides and epidemics, delaying other relief supplies from reaching them.
MR has launched a public fundraising appeal from 23rd Apr to 31st May 2013 to support its emergency relief efforts for victims of the Sichuan quake.
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About Mercy Relief
Mercy Relief is a Singaporean humanitarian organisation which engages in both disaster relief and sustainable development programmes. It was established in 2003 as an independent non-governmental humanitarian charity responding to the human tragedies in Asia. Mercy Relief’s aid programme focuses on providing timely and effective assistance to disaster-stricken communities and has maintained the delivery of emergency aid within 72 hours from the point of appeal for assistance.
In the past 12 years, Mercy Relief has disbursed over S$32 million in aid across 40 disaster relief and 53 sustainable development initiatives. Mercy Relief has impacted an aggregate of 2 million lives in 24 countries and areas, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, DPR Korea, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Palestine, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Yemen.
For more information, you may call us at 6514 6322 or email corporateaffairs@mercyrelief.org
