The Amity Foundation
General
Last phase of mudslide emergency relief operation
The Amity emergency relief operation is drawing to a close, but Amity continues to work with local partners and victims of the mudslide that took place on August 8th 2010 in Zhouqu, Gansu Province. Now that we are approaching the mid-autumn festival, an important day for families to get together, we remember the victims who lost their lives in the landslide and the rescue and relief workers who are still on site.
Amity has continued to dispatch rescue crews and relief materials to Zhouqu County, Gansu Province. The sixth batch of relief materials arrived on August 27th, with supplies allocated and delivered to 1,648 households in seven villages, with the assistance of local partners and volunteers. On August 28th, the seventh batch of relief materials reached Huixian County with all supplies handed out the next day. Amity staff, assisted by the Director of the Bureau for Civil Affairs of Huixian County, delivered the supplies to 660 households in Jiangluo and three other towns.
The supplies provided by Amity were warmly welcomed by local villagers because of their practicality. In the process of procurement, special attention was paid to obtain articles for daily use and medical supplies. According to Amity’s criterion for allocation, each family would receive one bag of rice, one bag of flour, one can of cooking oil, two winter coats, five bags of sanitary towels, one set of stoves and cookers. The relief materials supplied by Amity reached a total amount of 16.5 tons of rice, 16.5 tons of flour, 3,300 kilos of cooking oil, 275 boxes of sanitary towels, 1,320 winter coats, 660 sets of stoves and cookers. Also an additional 240 sets of stoves are schedules for later delivery.
A warm thank you to all our friends who have been extending support to the victims of the mudslide through Amity.
Website Update
We are currently in the process of updating the English language website of the Amity Foundation. Next week from the 6th of September the website may experience some technical difficulties, please bear with us. We are hoping it will only take one day but no longer than a week.
Thank you for your patience.
Update on Amity’s relief efforts after the landslides in Zhouqu and neighboring areas.
Progress of Amity’s relief efforts since August 19
Additional assistance, including three trucks, departed for the Zhouqu disaster-affected area on August 19th, led by Mr. Qiu Zhonghui, Amity’s General Secretary. After a long journey through the night and little rest, Mr. Qiu and other members of Amity Relief Team immediately started unloading supplies with the help of locals, even children, who volunteered to help. On August 20th, the Amity Relief Team delivered relief supplies to the affected villagers from home to home in Luojiayu, the most severely hit village in Zhouqu. When boxes of dried noodles, flashlights, rain boots and clothes, edible oil were handed to Luojiayu villagers, they said with tears in their eyes, that these goods are the most needed but least available, as shops are not open yet in Luojiayu. Two portable electrocardiograph were sent separately to the County Hospital and County Hospital for Maternal and Children Health Care the same afternoon.
Amity’s work in Chen County, August 20-25
Meanwhile, another Amity Disaster Relief Team rushed from Nanjing to Lanzhou on August 20th. Two trucks were used to deliver the first batch of Amity relief goods for Cheng County, which included 5 tons of rice, 10 tons of dried noodles, 12 tons of edible oil). Because there is still no electricity, Amity also distributed 6 Yamaha generators (2KW). Amity was able to assess the need in the area and found that clothing was the most lacking item, especially with decreasing temperatures. Therefore, the second relief effort delivered to Cheng County brought 2500 suits of sports clothes and 2500 suits of cotton-padded clothes, arriving by August 24th.
Amity’s work in Hui County, August 24-25
As the relief effort continues in Zhouqu and Cheng County, Amity widened its efforts to include Jiangluo and Mayan Townships of Hui County. Since these areas are rural and remote, the local people are poorer and need the emergency aid urgently. Amity aimed to distribute by August 25th; one bag of flour, one bag of rice and 5 kilo of oil to each of the 280 affected households in Jiangluo and 180 households in Majiang. Additionally, Amity will monitor medical needs to regulate the spread of disease.
Hope for the area
According to our estimate, the first phase of emergency relief for the landslides was finished on Sunday 29th.
Your continuing prayers and support are highly appreciated.
WEA delegation visits Amity
A group of 23 delegates from World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), led by its director, Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, visited the Amity Foundation a few days ago. Amity’s General Secretary Qiu Zhonghui and Associate General Secretary She Hongyu welcomed the guests. Ms. She went on to give them an overview of Amity’s history and main fields of work as well as the cooperation with its international partner organisations. The visitors expressed their hope that there will be an opportunity for WEA and Amity to cooperate in the future. Later, the WEA delegation also visited the Amity Printing Company.
Note regarding spam e-mail messages
False e-mail messages have been sent recently pretending to be from The Amity Foundation.
Primary Schools Reopened
As part of Amity’s primary school reconstruction project, new school buildings have been finished this year in 9 different mountain villages in the provinces of Guangxi, Sichuan and Shaanxi. A large number of children have thus been able to start the new term in shiny new classrooms.
The Shuangti Village Primary School in Yongxing, Qu County, Sichuan, is one of the schools rebuilt with Amity’s support. It had been allowed to fall into disrepair for many years and was classified as a “D” grade derelict building by the relevant government department in March 2006.
Urgent Appeal: Help Typhoon Victims in the Philippines
Dear Friends of Amity,
Relief for Typhoon Victims in the Philippines
I am writing to appeal for your support to provide urgently needed funds for relief work for the victims of Typhoon Ketsana (known locally as Ondoy), which devastated Metro-Manila and surrounding areas on September 26th 2009.
Road becomes river
Typhoon Kestana brought the highest rainfall in more than 40 years with floodwaters in some areas reaching almost 13.5 meters high, submerging the homes of more than 2 million people. More than 300 people have died and the numbers are mounting. Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran (菲律賓華裔青年聯合會), an organization of Chinese Filipino youth in the Philippines, was one of the first local NGOs to arrive at the scene. They have been working closely with Dr Theresa Carino, who happened to be in the Philippines right after the Typhoon and witnessed firsthand the suffering. Through Dr Carino, we have established the liaison necessary for Kaisa to act as Amity’s local partner in delivering relief to the victims. (Make a Donation Here.)
Flood relief work update
As part of its disaster relief efforts in southern China since July, the Amity Foundation has so far spent a total of CNY 3,075,000 (ca. US$ 450,000) in seven counties severely affected by floods. These counties are located in the provinces of Guangxi, Guizhou and Hunan. Over half a tonne of rice, more than 10,000 quilts, nearly 4200 mosquito nets and more than 1000 bed mats have been distributed to needy people in the affected areas. These numbers refer to our work until 28 August.
Amity Newsletter: “Reconstruction”
The latest issue of the Amity Newsletter (ANL) has just been published online (the printed edition will be mailed to subscribers soon). This issue, focussing on reconstruction, contains:
- an article on social cohesion – Amity’s efforts to rebuild communities and individual lives, not just houses
- an interview with Amity General Secretary Qiu Zhonghui
- an essay by a young girl from Woyun Village in the Sichuan earthquake region
- personal reflections of Amity staffers on their work in Woyun after the earthquake
- Amity’s principles for post-disaster work and the latest numbers of our relief, reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts
- an article on how people’s views, attitudes and personal relationships have changed since the earthquake
- a portrait of a Hong Kong engineer volunteering in Woyun
- and latest news
Complete ANL issues can also be downloaded as PDF files.
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