Giant quake proves Chinese NGOs' rising force
Updated: 2008-05-26 15:32
BEIJING -- Two days after the May 12 earthquake of 8.0 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted Sichuan Province, southwest China, the millionaire Wang Wenzhong headed to the devastated zone to help with relief work.
Owner of a huge leather shop in Beijing, the 50-year-old Wang acknowledged that he has no expertise in disaster relief, but it is "no impediment to helping the needy," he said.
Armed with Wang were 14 villagers and 10 college students from Liangshuming Rural Construction Center, a Beijing-based NGO dedicated to assisting village development.
Time did not allow the team to get logistically prepared. Lessons like first aid were taught on the flight to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan. Relief supplies of 926 sets of cotton-padded clothes, 70 tents, and 2,000 quilts, were transferred by three trucks Wang hired.
They had planned to directly go to Mianyang City, a hardest-hit area, but the road was blocked and no suitable vehicles were available.
Wang and his team adjusted their plan and advanced to Pengzhou County and Xiang'e Town of Dujiangyan City, where 90 percent of homes destroyed, with 400 deaths and 15,000 survivors. So the team set up a rescue station in the town.
Over the past two weeks, the team helped set up more than 100 tents in Xiang'e. They raised funds, visited victims, distributed goods and comforted the young and the old. They worked on the center's principle that the villagers could rehabilitate their own community with a bit of help.
"We help with the small things, but it requires patience," said Bai Yali, a volunteer. For every meal, each villager is allocated a bow of rice. "We must keep order to prevent chaos or quarrels. People are irritable after the disaster."
Zhou Zhongmin, a retired technician traveling across Sichuan investigating rural education when the earthquake struck, agreed. "Disaster relief doesn't need just big gestures." At a rescue station, Zhou and other volunteers boiled 40 pots of water one day for more than 1,000 victims. "They were desperately thirsty."
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