A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan on 20 April, leaving more than 156 people dead and 5500 people injured
Update 28/04: Oxfam finished distributing the first and second batches of emergency supplies in three villages in Lushan County that suffered severe damage in the Ya’an Earthquake: Hongxing Village and Longxing Village in Longmenxiang and Renjia Village in Qingrenxiang. The supplies benefited almost 7,000 people.
After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Lushan County in Sichuan on 20 April, leaving more than 186 people dead, 21 missing and 11,393 injured, 968 of them seriously, Oxfam Hong Kong’s programme team immediately set off to the affected area to assess the disaster situation and to provide relief supplies.
Oxfam Hong Kong is transferring emergency supplies from the emergency warehouse in Chengdu to the affected people in Longmenxiang, Lushan County. They include 2,180 quilts, 57 tents, 500 sets of cooking utensils and 500 sanitary kits. Initial figures indicate that there are 30 people dead in Longmenxiang alone.
Field workers from our Kunming Office are also ready to deliver emergency supplies from the Kunming warehouse to affected areas. Emergency supplies from Kunming include 185 rolls of waterproof fabric, 2,000 quilts, 1,000 sanitary kits and 2,000 mosquito nets.
Feng Ming-ling, Manager of Oxfam’s Kunming Office said that waterproof fabric is a practical material for earthquake survivors because they can be manipulated into different forms of shelter according to people’s needs. “Post-quake survivors are under a lot of mental stress – they have lost their homes, and their lives have turned upside down. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we help them restore their daily lives and their confidence in rebuilding their homes as soon as possible. There are enough materials inside our sanitary kits for a family of four. We hope by meeting their basic needs, we can help them resume a normal life soon,” said Feng.
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“Post-quake survivors are under a lot of mental stress – they have lost their homes, and their lives have turned upside down” |
Oxfam’s Kunming Office is collecting feedback from frontline field workers as well as information from government officials and other aid agencies. Oxfam will use this information as reference when purchasing the next batch of materials after a quotation process. As supplies arrive in the quake-stricken area, Oxfam’s frontline workers will also carry out assessment in nearby townships and respond to those in greatest need.
Oxfam released the 512 Wenchuan Earthquake: Five-Year-On Report of Oxfam Hong Kong earlier to introduce the reconstruction progress after the 5.12 earthquake. Oxfam promptly responded to the emergency in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces after the earthquake happened. In the past five years, Oxfam has been working with 91 partners including government departments, local NGOs and research institutes to work on emergency relief and rehabilitation work in the affected regions.
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