[UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 238-NGOs have role in China relief, says Amity staff

[NewsDesk]

NGOs have role in China relief, says Amity staff 

Jun. 9, 2008      

NOTE: Photographs available at http://umns.umc.org. 

A UMNS Report 
By Linda Bloom* 

The enormous impact of the recent earthquake in China makes the
involvement of nongovernmental organizations there more important than
ever, according to the staff of a Chinese Christian organization. 

She Hongyu, assistant director of research and development for the Amity
Foundation and its overseas liaison, believes it is impossible even for
China's government to take care of everyone in a situation "where nearly
70,000 people have been killed and nearly 17,000 are still missing,"
with millions relocated.

The official death toll from the quake climbed June 8 to 69,136, with
17,686 people still missing, according to the Associated Press.

The May 12 massive earthquake and its aftershocks caused extensive
damage in China's Sichuan Province. Amity and the United Methodist
Committee on Relief are both part of Action by Churches Together
International and UMCOR has sent $50,000 to Amity through that
partnership for its relief work. However, more donations to UMCOR
Advance No. 982450 are needed for any additional support of earthquake
relief.

As the Chinese government has placed an emphasis on building the
country's civil society, nongovernmental organizations have contributed
to the development process, according to She.

"An enormous disaster like the earthquake provides an excellent
opportunity for NGOs to get in with efficient work, care and concern for
the victims and establishing the credibility of NGOs," She said in an
e-mail message. "This is a huge platform for NGOs to develop and it is
all up to individual NGOs to decide how they can best cope with the
situation."

The flexibility and professionalism exhibited by such groups is an
asset, in her opinion. "NGOs do pioneering projects and serve as ... a
kind of reference for the government for administrative and
policy-making purposes," She added. 

Relief teams from Amity have travelled to 13 of the 15 areas hit by the
earthquake, particularly focusing on rural areas not receiving much
attention from others. "Amity staff, immediately after the assessment
with the participation of the farmers, prepared relief supplies and
distributed (them) the second day after the assessment," She said.

Coordinating supply distribution 

In other developments during early June, Diane Allen, who oversees the
China Program of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
reported that Liu Lin will be coordinating Amity's distribution of
supplies gathered by the New Hump Campaign in Shanghai.

The New Hump Campaign is a group of nongovernmental organizations. "The
New Hump is probably taken from 'the hump,' which was a term for the
Himalayan Mountains," she explained.

During the Sino-Japanese War from 1937-45, Western regions of China were
unoccupied by Japanese troops, so supplies and people, including
missionaries, entered or left the country by flying over the Himalayans
- or "over the hump" - from or to India.

Liu will oversee distribution of the New Hump supplies in Mianyang and
Mianzhu, where Amity did relief assessment work after the quakes.

A "desperate need" also remains for tents or materials like plastic
material/sheets/tarpaulin and She has sent an appeal for the items to
ecumenical partners.

"President Hu Jintao has personally visited tent factories to encourage
workers to produce more and better tents," She wrote in the appeal.
"However, with the limited supply of materials and limited staff at the
factories, there is no way to produce the needed numbers of tents within
a short period of time."

According to the New York Times, the Chinese government needs enough
tents and other emergency supplies for people in an earthquake-scarred
area that is roughly the size of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire
and New Jersey combined. A U.N. official said as many as 3.3 million
tents may be needed.

Relying on local partners 

Allen said that Amity is relying on its local partners "to help it
channel aid where needed." In Sichuan Province, those partners include
the Sichuan Christian Council and the Zhigong Party, founded in the
1920s by people who returned to China after being overseas, or were
relatives of overseas Chinese. It is one of China's eight democratic
parties, which are comprised of special interest groups.  

Christian Councils in the Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces also are
partnering with Amity, along with the Gansu Overseas Friendship
Association.

Allen believes that Amity operates with realistic project goals. "In a
country where millions still live on less than one U.S. dollar per day,
the needs can be overwhelming in certain regions," she noted. "That's
where Amity's good preliminary and project assessment practices help
insure resources are used effectively."

The Board of Global Ministries has sent around $10,000 for Amity's
future project with earthquake orphans and also has contributed to the
rebuilding of churches though the Sichuan Christian Council, according
to Allen.  

Connie Wieck, a United Methodist missionary studying in Chengdu, the
largest city in Sichuan Province, said in her June 4 blog that the
24-hour earthquake coverage is over in China as some places return to
normal.

"The leftovers of the earthquake are quickly being hauled away - the
rubble cleared, the roads smoothed, the buildings reconstructed," she
wrote. "But in Chengdu, the remnants of a frightened city still lay
strewn about in small pockets here and there. They are little ghost
towns of dusty tents and tattered tarps that still fill numerous
neighborhood open-air nooks and crannies. My apartment compound is one
of them; the adjacent park another. 

"It's hard to believe, just one week ago today, another report of
possible aftershocks caused schools to close and upper-story residents
once again to collect their things for an outdoor sleepover. ... I now
walk through my apartment compound and along the walkways of the park to
find an eerie silence. The shelters are still there, but the people are
not." 

Donations to UMCOR's relief efforts in China can be made to
International Disaster Response, China Earthquake, UMCOR Advance No.
982450. Checks can be dropped in church offering plates or mailed
directly to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068. Write the
Advance number and name on the memo line of the check. Credit-card
donations are accepted online at www.givetomission.org or by phone at
(800) 554-8583.

*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.


News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or
newsdesk at umcom.org. 

******************** 

United Methodist News Service 
Photos and stories also available at: 
http://umns.umc.org 




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