As of 7:00pm today (22 April), Sichuan Ya’an earthquake has left 189 people dead and 12,211 injured. Today Oxfam delivered the first batch of relief supplies to severely hit Longmenxiang in Lushan County, and distributed them to the quake survivors in Hongxing Village and Longxing Village. The second batch of relief supplies have left Kunming today and are expected to arrive in Ya’an by 10:00am tomorrow.

Due to road closures, Oxfam’s truckload of supplies did not arrive in Hongxing Village until 2:30pm. According to the secretary of the village, Su Fongming, there are 1,100 households, a total of 3,460 people, living in Hongxing Village. The villagers are organised into six groups. The village, one of the most impoverished in Longmenxiang, suffered severe damage. Eighty percent of the houses toppled and the rest were all damaged. The villagers built simple shelters on vacant lands after the quake; the supplies distributed by Oxfam were able to meet their needs.

Fei Gweilian, 55, and her husband, both farmers, grow corn and rice for a living in Hongxing Village. Their two children both attend university in Chengdu. When the quake happened, the couple ran back home from the fields only to find out that their house was gone. Their neighbour, Luo Huaxiu and her family also lost their home, but they were all working in the fields when the earth shook, so no one was hurt. “When the 5.12 earthquake happened, our house didn’t suffer serious damage, but this time, even the earth in the fields cracked and mud was shooting up from the ground,” said Luo.

At around 4pm, Oxfam staff finished offloading the relief supplies and came up with a distribution plan after meeting with Secretary Su. The six village groups took turns to inform Oxfam staff about their needs. After some coordination work, Oxfam started distributing the supplies at 7pm. “Since time was tight, we asked each group to send a representative to collect the materials that they had asked for earlier, and write down the names of each head of household. After the distribution, we would post the list in public and visit the households to see if our materials have been delivered appropriately,” said Zhai Fan, Manager of Oxfam’s Chengdu Office.

The first batch of supplies includes 2,180 quilts, 57 tents, 500 sanitary kits and 108 sets of cooking utensils. Apart from 10 quilts which had been delivered to survivors on the way to Longmenxiang, the rest were all distributed to the people in Hongxing Village. After meeting the needs of Hongxing Village, the other 990 quilts will be distributed in nearby Longxing Village.

Oxfam’s second batch of relief supplies left Kunming at 2pm today for Lushan County in Ya’an, Sichuan. The second batch of supplies includes 185 rolls of waterproof fabric, 2,000 quilts, 1,000 sanitary kits and 2,000 mosquito nets. They are expected to arrive in Ya’an at 10am tomorrow. At the same time, support officers in Oxfam’s Kunming Office have started the quotation process for purchasing the next batch of supplies. After receiving feedback from our frontline staff based on the needs assessment of the survivors, new supplies will be purchased promptly.

In response to the needs of the survivors, on 21 April, the fundraising target of Oxfam’s emergency appeal for the Sichuan Ya’an earthquake was increased to HK$3 million.

Donation methods are as follows:

Donations can be transferred to the various bank accounts of Oxfam Hong Kong:

Hong Kong

HSBC: 047-834668-001

Bank of China: 012-874-0-010515-7

Macau

Bank of China Macau account: 01-01-20-840951 (MOP)

Banco Tai Fung: 201-1-10056-9 (MOP)

Banco Weng Hang: 743342-001 (MOP)

Bank of China Macau cardholders can make donations via BOC Express or BOCNET

More donation methods:

Online donation link (HK donor)

https://www.oxfam.org.hk/en/oneoffdonationform_2013it011.aspx

Online donation link (Macau donor)

https://www.oxfam.org.hk/en/oneoffdonationform_2013kn006.aspx

Other donation methods

http://www.oxfam.org.hk/en/paymentsichuanearthquake.aspx

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About Oxfam

Oxfam is dedicated to fighting poverty and inequity worldwide. The international and independent development and humanitarian organisation tackles poverty in four main ways: sustainable development in poor communities, disaster relief, local, national and global advocacy, and education with Hong Kong youth. Established in Hong Kong in 1976, Oxfam Hong Kong is a founding member of Oxfam, an international confederation that has assisted poor people in 94 countries. Oxfam Hong Kong alone has supported poor people in over 70 countries/regions.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Sarah Chu
Communications Officer
Telephone: + 852 3120-5280 / + 852 9276 0064
Email: sarah.chu@oxfam.org.hk