On Monday, May 12, 2008 a major earthquake jolted southwestern China's Sichuan Province. Hundreds of aftershocks followed in the same area. The quake destroyed thousands of buildings in the area. Thousands of people died or are missing, and hundreds of thousands were injured. It is estimated that 5 million people have been left homeless as a result of the earthquake, the worst natural disaster to hit China in 30 years. The World Job and Food Bank built five elementary schools in the rural mountain areas of Sichuan Province in China since 2003. We are pleased to report that these schools, located near the recent quake epicenter, were not affected by the initial tremors and aftershocks. The World Job and Food Bank started earthquake relief work by collecting tents and sending them to the affected areas in Sichuan. Sichuan Charity Federation (SCF) Government of the Sichuan Province of China and the Southwest Petroleum University (SWPU) joined us as partners to support our relief work. In conjunction with our membership, both individuals and corporations, we are making final arrangements to send tents to the hardest hit areas. Several airlines are participating in this disaster relief work by transporting the collected tents to China free of charge. Our project partners, SCF and SWPU, responsibly distributed the tents to the neediest and prepared a report about their distribution. |
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(C) World Job and Food
Bank. |