Posts Tagged ‘tent’
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
ERC Newsletter for BeiChuan (北川) trip – August 29th to 31st 2008
The trip to Beichuan was a success! Everyone involved in the trip was very happy with the effort put forth by the volunteers, from us at the Earthquake Resource Center (ERC), to the local volunteers living in JingJiaCun, and most importantly, to the villagers themselves.
You dismantled two tents, assembled three tents, provided a waterproof covering for one house, completely dismantled three houses, from the roof tiles to the brick walls, and saved and stacked the reusable materials for use in rebuilding the home. You dug out the foundation for a new house, cleaned up garbage, moved materials to where they needed to go, prepared an area for construction, and all in one weekend.
You took the time to play with the local children, who really needed a little fun in their lives. You took care of the elderly, freeing the locals to do other things.
Gao told us that he was amazed with the amount of work done by the volunteers. He had not expected that so much work could be done in so little time, he was very impressed. Frank, the CEO of the ERC, who has many years of experience volunteering, agreed. He said “There is nothing greater than seeing the joy on the faces of the villagers after a long weekend of hard work by the volunteers.”
To see their joyful faces, as well as your own, please take a look at pictures from the trip.
So from all of us at the ERC, we want to thank you for all your hard work in making this a successful weekend.
In fact, the weekend was so successful, we are planning on going again this weekend. And we understand the time and effort that goes into volunteering, so to make the financial burden easier, we are planning to subsidize the cost of transportation, so each person should only have to pay around 40RMB for the weekend, which includes everything: transportation, food, lodging, equipment and materials to be used that weekend.
And this isn’t our only project. This weekend, we are also going to a town in AnXian to help repair the poorly constructed temporary housing units that are being used as dormitories for the local elementary and middle school. Right now, the leaky ceilings are making the dormitories a health hazard. In two weeks we’ll have another project in JiangYouShi where we’ll rebuild a wall of a dam that provides the water to a village for irrigating crops. And we have many other projects ranging from water restoration and rebuilding houses, to teaching children and providing counseling to people hurt by the earthquake.
We hope you enjoyed your volunteer experience, and can join us again in the future. Stay in touch. Thanks again for everything!
Sincerely,
The ERC
Tags:An'xian, Beichuan, brick, counselling, Earthquake Resource Center, ERC, JiangYouShi, JingJiaCun, teaching, tent, tile, village, volunteer, water restoration
Posted in Civil society, Home rebuilding, Living conditions, NGO news | No Comments »
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Reported on the Chinese Government’s Official Web Portal:
Freezing weather would hit parts of quake-stricken areas this winter, and residents there need more quilts, [executive vice provincial governor Wei Hong] said.
Sichuan has seen more rainy and cold days this winter than past years and the temperature was 0.5 to 1 degree Celsius lower than usual, according to meteorologists.
Statistics show the worst quake-stricken areas, mostly in high mountains, report an average temperature of 7 to minus 3 degrees in winter. The lowest was recorded in Songpan County, or minus 2.8degrees.
Residents living in quake-affected and remote mountainous areas need 3.6 million quilts and 3.6 million cotton-padded clothes, Wei said.
“Some elderly people and children are in need of basic equipment to keep them warm. Residents in some quake-stricken areas even face the tough issue of provisions for this winter and the coming spring,” he said.
So far, the province has received 3.274 million quilts, 3.658 million cotton clothes and 300,000 electric blankets and heaters, including donations from across the country and purchases by the provincial government, he said.
Some 6,489 families, mostly in the two worst-stricken counties of Beichuan and An’xian, are still living in tents because it was difficult to select sites for rebuilding houses, Wei said.
“Local authorities are busy making prefab homes to enable those residents to move in by the end of this month,” he said.
As of Nov. 12, the province had rebuilt houses for 195,000 rural families, or about 15.5 percent of the reconstruction plan, and another 685,000 homes are under reconstruction in the countryside, he added.
According to Chen Kefu, deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Civil Affairs Department, the province sill needs 330,000 quilts and more electric blankets and heaters.
“We aim to send those quilts, clothes and electric blankets and heaters to the hands of the affected people by the end of this month,” he told reporters in Beijing.
Tags:An'xian, Beichuan, blanket, donations, elderly, electric blanket, freezing, quilt, Songpan, tent, Winter
Posted in Home rebuilding, Winter | No Comments »
Thursday, July 31st, 2008
Update sent by Lucy to SQR volunteers at end of July 2008. The second part of the post features an email sent 14th July to SQR volunteers.
With the help of three volunteers we were able to almost finish our NGO Newsletter (right now Bingbing is translating all the English info texts about the different NGOs). We’ll hope to send out the first edition of the newsletter this weekend.
Also we got several huge maps of the quake area as a goodbye present from their NGO, those will be very useful for the next NGO meeting.
The Library Project picked two schools of the schools SQR recommended, for their libraries (one is in Qingchuan and one in Tumenzhen).
SQR was invited to take part in the reconstruction mission of the British Chamber of Commerce and attend meetings with Sichuan, Chengdu, Mianzhu, Qingchuan, Wenchuan, Dujiangyan and Mianyang government (mayors and the like). It was definitely interesting information about future government plans (also to pass onto other NGOs) and a lot of business-card swapping. Also I met two managers who might be interested in donating some money to SQR (nothing sure yet).
Today I met with a Dutch lady who has collected over 30,000 RMB and wants help to spend it in the earthquake area, so I’m working on a plan how to split up that kind of money and use it for the tent schools we work with. The only condition she had was that she could tag along when we deliver the supplies and take pictures.
I also met with Maki from Sim’s Guesthouse, who is working on a fabulous map of the affected area. She’s going to put the SQR logo (and some other NGOs logos) on the back of the map and also is getting some help from us in proofreading some info text on the affected area for the back of the map.
Last Friday Hong, Beate and Lynda (latter is the author of the “Good Grief” booklet, of which we brought around 1000 to different tent schools) came to Chengdu. SQR had arranged a trip to two tent schools in Jiulong for them. Bingbing took them to the schools in Jiulong, since I was still busy with the reconstruction mission, and Friday I arranged for them to tag along with Rainbow project to Luoshui. Also Mark interviewed Lynda for the SQR blog. As I chatted with Lynda and her friends later we had the idea of possibly doing a fundraising event in the beginning of September, if possible in the Bookworm. The main idea was to let Lynda read her book, get some other people to do a slideshow about the affected area (I could do that or maybe we could get a professional photographer), maybe one of our volunteer teachers to talk about his experience, do some kind of raffles or charity auction, sell lots of our postcards and calendars etc. We could also make it into a welcome back to Chengdu thing (since quite a lot of expats will be coming home or newly arriving)… It’s still a work in progress. Any suggestions and great ideas please mail to me.
Saturday I hope to go to Qingchuan to bring up two foreign volunteers and supplies to a new school and a kindergarten.
Ashley Murray got me in touch with a school in the states who would possibly like to fundraise money for us and since they’d like to get their students involved I suggested they could do some drawings and cards for the kids in the affected area, which the next foreign volunteer teachers could deliver. I’m still waiting to hear back from them.
Next Thursday we’ll have another NGO meeting with the topics healthcare/psychological help/ hygiene. We need one or two volunteers to take minutes and also translators (the translators I can find easily but somebody to take useful minutes might be harder to find) – anybody interested?
Email to SQR volunteers 14th July 2008
We gave Leo 10,000 RMB to buy basic supplies for villages around Yingxiu. He was supposed to go there tomorrow but had to delay his trip due to heavy rainfall, as soon as he goes he’ll give us the receipts for the supplies he bought with our money and will also give me some pictures from his trip.
On Friday last week I went to Tumenzhen with Wenbo, Lydia and two filming guys from Shenzhen (George and Yimin). We delivered a whiteboard, toys and teaching material for several schools and then dropped off Lydia and Wenbo at two schools to stay there as volunteer teachers. Unfortunately Lydia twisted her ankle and so had to come back to Chengdu before she actually got to start classes. She is okay and back in Beijing now.
This Thursday I went to Qingchuan to bring the first couple of hundreds of our “back to school kits” (backpack filled with “good grief booklet”, pencil case, pen, pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener, two notebooks, candy and a small toy) and two foreign teachers (James and George) and one Chinese translator to the Huangpin Primary and Middle school. By the way those schoolkits are sponsored by a Belgian University who I’m in touch with, they generously donated for educational projects. The teachers were extremely grateful for our help and gave us a warm welcome (lots of baijiu included). James will stay in Qingchuan for 2 weeks George for 1. There were no roadblocks and the streets were in pretty good condition but one way takes about 5 hours (yes it was a long day).
On Saturday I brought an American doctor, his two kids and a Chinese counsellor and a box of toys up to one of the tent schools we are in touch with (in Tumenzhen- close to Mianzhu) to stay and teach there for at least one week maybe even two. We had to register at one of the local “tent offices” which unexpectedly only took 5 minutes, the whole trip went well. Wonderfully we didn’t have to pay any driver, since I talked to Leo about how expensive our driver to Qingchuan was and so he hooked us up with a very nice volunteer and his super comfy car, who brought us there for free (even insisted on paying the toll fee) and who made me promise to call him any time we need a free lift to the affected area (I already called him on this today- bet he didn’t expect to hear from me so soon).
Yesterday a volunteer teacher, called Saima, from Beichuan called me and I met with her and another teacher the same day. They are in charge of several tent schools in Beichuan and told me that the kids have literally nothing at the moment, they especially asked for books so I let them fill out the form that the library project gave me and I’m going to visit one of the schools on Monday (one day trip with the volunteer driver from Leo). They also asked me for 250 back-to-school kits and possibly some toys (I’ll send another project proposal to the funding committee about that).
I’ve been emailing back and forth with Jenny and Tom from the library project and sent them infos about six schools that might be good locations for a library. They are very eager to get the project started so I hope to send you guys some news in the next week.
Lynda the author of “Good Grief” and Hong, her manager,have sent us almost 2000 copies of “Good Grief”, a booklet for kids that deals with the topic of how to cope with loss (translated into Chinese especially for the earthquake kids). I’ve been delivering those books to all the tent schools I’ve visited in the last week and also put one copy in each back-to-school kit. Lynda and Hong will be coming to Chengdu between July 25th and 27th. I’ve already arranged a trip to Luoshui with the Rainbow Project for them and will probably also take them to one of “our” tentschools in Jiulong or Tumen.
The “back to school kits”, have been a big success so far and we’re going to buy some more for the school in Qingchuan and Beichuan.
Rebecca has been working tirelessly on getting in touch with all the NGOs so our first NGO Newsletter will hopefully be sent around soon. So, that’s pretty much all (not enough space for all info about the many other meetings we have had).
Tags:Add new tag, Back-to-school kit, baijiu, Beichuan, Belgium, British Chamber of Commerce, driver, Dujiangyan, fundraiser, Good Grief, Holland, Huangpin, hygiene, library, Luoshui, Lynda Dyer, mayor, Mianyang, Mianzhu, newsletter, NGO, postcard, Qingchuan, Rainbow Project, reconstruction, school, Shenzhen, T-shirt, teacher, tent, translator, Tumenzhen, volunteer, Wenchuan, Yingxiu
Posted in Donation, Education, NGO news, SQR Activities, SQR Editorial | No Comments »
Saturday, June 21st, 2008
Report by Rainy, volunteering for SQR (interpreting/coordinating).
Swedish Rescue Service Agency (SRSA) donated 1093 military tents to Guangyuan, Sichuan. This is the second batch of tents that they donated where the first was an alliance-to-alliance while this one is a government-to-government one.
The donation consists of 716 accommodation tents, 63 storage tents, 203 command tents and 111 medical tents. The donation arrived in Guangyuan Lizhou District, and was unloaded into a disused factory warehouse on 14th of June by factory workers. Three staff from SRSE were in Guangyuan from the 15th to 19th of June with two Chinese translators.
The team taught eight volunteers how to set up the four different kinds of tents. The volunteers are either going to be directing tent construction directly or teaching more volunteers for distribution in further away counties or areas — for example, villages around the severely damaged county Qingchuan and certain mountain villages along the damaged express way from Guangyuan to Qingchuan along the biggest branch of Jialing river.
The distribution plan is going to be decided by Guangyuan city council, and executed by Guangyuan Lizhou District Civil Affairs Bureau along with the city Civil Affairs Bureau. The SRSA team also provided digital files of detailed manual for all four kinds of tents in Chinese and handed over more than seven hundred ready-printed manuals for the accommodation tents from Sweden, with photos and English instructions as reference.
All tents were organised by coloured spray paint in Sweden and sorted into piles by the team in Guangyuan with the help of their factory workers. The tents are donated with intention of providing temporary shelter for families, schools and medical purpose. All tents came with a heater which can also be used for cooking. The accommodation tents also came with clothes-drying components above the stove.
Deputy Chief of the district bureau Mr Fei said that the tents will be really good for accommodation in remote villages where have people lost their houses but won’t move away from the place, and for village schools which both do not have the flat ground for prefabricated houses to stand on, and do not have accessibility for prefab houses to be transported in recent future. Mr Fei also said the tents will be really good for winter sheltering for areas that need to stay in tents for a longer time.
Tent distribution will be followed up with the provincial Civil Affairs Bureau and Mr Xie. The condition of the buildings within the Guangyuan City is not too bad. Mainly due to fear of aftershocks, quite a lot of people are living in self-constructed tents on the main streets, some in disaster relief or donated tents.
In the older part of the town an area of about three blocks of houses was quite seriously damaged. The buildings had major cracks were clearly seriously distorted/crooked but have not collapsed. The city did not suffer large numbers of deaths or injuries but large numbers of buildings were identified by experts as in danger. An owner of a seriously damaged house expressed her worry of losing the house, which is everything they own. Most people are able to get most of their belongings out of their houses. Shops are open, although one consequence of the earthquake has narrowed the range of products on sale. No internet cafes are open at this stage but internet cards are working.
Tags:aftershock, Civil Affairs Bureau, death, Guangyuan, shelter, SRSA, tent
Posted in Media | No Comments »
Monday, June 9th, 2008
Sichuan Quake Relief’s activities have been continuing. For details and pictures of one of the recent visits up north, see Earthquake Zone – Survivors’ Stories, part of a blog by Fiferis.
- The web site has been updated to include:
- T-shirts have been printed and are available at The Bookworm. They are made of high-quality material and are selling well — get your hands on them quickly (pay for them first though, please).
- Volunteers have been travelling out to various villages to deliver more aid, and collect information on what they require. They report that the authorities are well-organised in the areas affected by the earthquake. The current strength/advantage/purpose of Sichuan Quake Relief is to channel donations (for example, a donation of hundreds of large tents), guide volunteers into the area, putting them in touch with the villagers and helping the aid to be delivered (in this case, helping to erect the tents).
- A meeting of Sichuan Quake Relief volunteers created a basic organisational structure which will allow the organisation to continue to function as an info hub and donations channel, mainly, but not exclusively, for foreign donors and donations. It is important to stress that Sichuan Quake Relief has been working with very many local people and organisations.
So, despite the apparent lack of major developments on the web, there has been a great deal of activity. The organisation continues to make a real difference to the lives of the people it has managed to reach, by helping with accommodation, food, water, educational supplies, and hygiene supplies, and just by being part of the huge effort which shows that people in the affected region have not been forgotten, and will continue to receive support.
Tags:Chinese, Donation, Fiferis, Flickr, French, German, iboughtashelter.com, Italian, project, T-shirt, tent, village, volunteer
Posted in SQR Activities, SQR Editorial | No Comments »
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
A major part of the work of Sichuan-Quake-Relief is to act as an information hub and a connection point between donors and projects, which will involve reporting on the work of the many groups and projects in the region. Here is a short report from Simon, from one such group, the Chengdu’ers:
Last weekend we travelled with Zhu Hai volunteers up to the Mianyang/Jiangyou and Chenjiaba areas of Sichuan.
We had received aid parcels from the GAC school in Wuhan, Hubei province, and the people in this area of Sichuan had not been covered by the army yet. Again, basic food and some tents had arrived from government sources but mosquito repellents, sanitary towels, skin creams for the terrible weather (the last week has been hot and dusty for a few days, followed by a day or two of heavy rain) were in short supply.
Some of the houses look fine, once inside however it is clear that most of them will be demolished eventually. The government officers have been round and daubed characters on the houses: red for demolition, yellow for repair, blue or nothing for safe. The settlements are quite isolated; rice and vegetables are the area’s main produce. Behind one village the whole front of the escarpment had collapsed.
Most of Sichuan’s mountains are densely covered with trees and foliage, the earthquake has literally sheared some of them in half and anywhere you see brown or grey on the mountainsides are collapses or slides due to the quake. Our base was on the outskirts of Jiangyou City. The campsite was somewhat noisy — lorries carrying flat-pack temporary housing, which is becoming such a feature of the landscape.
We’re just a small group, no official name as such but have networked with Guangzhou and local Sichuanese volunteers. Liang Ya, Tom, Michael, Li Qing Wei, Tang Qing Yun and Xiao Gao make up the Chengdu’ers. This week we’re back to Pengzhou county to take supplies to a village hospital that’s had a small upsurge in patients so I’m just heading off to the medical wholesale place now.
Tags:Chen Jia Ba, food, Guangzhou, hospital, Jiangyou, landslide, Mianyang, Pengzhou, rain, Red for demolition, temporary housing, tent, Zhuhai
Posted in Media | No Comments »
Sunday, June 8th, 2008
On Sunday 8th June ’08 SQR chatted to Lee, who has been volunteering for SQR and in charge of many of the trips out into the earthquake zone, organising and sourcing materials, arranging transport, liaising with local communities and buying beer for the volunteers. SQR strolled into the Bookworm just as Lee and other volunteers had returned from …
- Lee
- We went to Baiguo Village near Hanwang. Just before you go into Hanwang, you turn left and you’re pretty much there. It’s looking better there than before. Its buildings are rubble of course. We went with iboughtashelter.com, who have their own design of temporary tents.
- SQR
- How did they get in touch with Sichuan Quake Relief?
- Lee
- They contacted us after reading about us on the web. Baiguo is in an area north west of Mianzhu and Hanwang that we have delivered aid to previously, and each time we have spoken to the people who live there, which is a major part of the reason to go on trips out there, to build up meaningful links with local communities. They asked for our advice and this is one of the areas we suggested.
- SQR
- How did you choose that area?
- Lee
- There is a real need for these tents almost everywhere. The tent is a really decent construction. Getting lots of them put up quickly and properly is just about practice. We took some trucks, a jeep, all in all 20 people, including Mike, Lucy, Lydia, Angel, me, Sam and Luke and others. We use one-tonne trucks. They are small, easy to get through, and we have a good relationship with the drivers.
- SQR
- You’ve been going out there for three weeks now. Do you now have a fairly standard procedure for approaching the various sites and setting down deliveries?
- Lee
- It has changed over the few weeks we’ve been going. There are police checkpoints in many places, at every major turning and every at major entry and exit point into an area. The officers who dealt with us today were from Gansu, and so are all outsiders. They stop foreigners to check what we are up to. When I chat to them and show them my passport, and a letter showing that we are helping people in the area. If you greet them with a decent attitude, they are fine. We let them know we are heading up to the village(s).
- SQR
-
- What do you tell people when they ask you what it’s like?
- Lee
- The area is a lot better than it used to be. Three weeks ago this area had the smell of death, an air of desperation, and everyone wanted food and shelter. That kept going for a couple of weeks. Now that the frequency of the major shocks has lessened, people are actually looking past that and facing up to reality, which is a terrible thing as well, but it makes them get on with life. Their loved ones have gone, dead, their children are dead, their houses have gone, and their livelihood has gone as well.
- SQR
- What were those tents for today?
- Lee
- Accommodation. The farmers there have food and water, but really need shelter. They are working on their farms, getting on with life. Almost immediately after the earthquake, people started to work on their land again. We also took up a load of toys and games at the beginning of June. The kids absolutely adored that. Water and food is getting through. The government is giving each person rice and other basic foodstuffs and water.
- SQR
-
- In the first three weeks after the quake, Sichuan Quake Relief concentrated on delivering emergency relief, water, and different types of food to give a small amount of dietary variety for some. What are the priorities now?
- Lee
- Now we’re looking long term and in particular at providing shelters at this period of time, so it’s a good thing the guys from iboughtashelter.com are here. You can get twelve people in one of the tents. Using tarps is always going to mean that heat is a problem. Any tent made of that material is like a small greenhouse, but they are working on the ventilation issue, and it will be sorted.
- SQR
- What was the reaction of the villagers to the new tents?
- Lee
- They loved the tents, they all helped. The tents are great and the response has been absolutely marvellous. They have a thousand people to accommodate there, and so we’ll visit again.
- SQR
- Any particular moments you remember from today’s trip?
- Lee
- Permits are very important and the police spoke to us four times, and were very positive, pleasant and professional and even mentioned a village in Gansu that we might visit to help. After putting up the tents, as we were leaving, they all waved to us, and the police came and saluted us. The police specifically drove up to us to thank us and salute us and were almost teary-eyed. It was pretty moving. They were senior officers and they were saluting us.
- SQR
- What are the plans for the near future?
- Lee
- Three hundred or more tents will be sent from Shanghai. They are specifically designed for this emergency. SQR’s role is to recommend places to take them, and get in touch with the village leaders. There are thousands of people to accommodate, so there’s plenty to do.
- SQR
- Any signs of normal life returning?
- Lee
- There are some. Kids are smiling. People’s income there is from farming, so people are working and there is work to do. People are smiling, sitting around, happily joking and laughing. Obviously they are friendly because we are helping them. Obviously the atmosphere is still so sad, but people are facing reality.
If you would like to volunteer, please contact SQR at The Bookworm or email info@sichuan-quake-relief.org.
Tags:aftershock, Baiguocun, checkpoint, children, community, death, earthquake, food, foreigner, Gansu, Hanwang, iboughtashelter.com, jeep, liaison, permit, shelter, tent, Transport, village, water
Posted in Relief, SQR Activities | No Comments »
Monday, May 19th, 2008
From the People’s Daily:
The Chengdu expat community is rallying to support locals in relief and recovery efforts to overcome this disaster. Foreigners want to give and want to personally help the victims of this natural disaster in anyway they can. Under the auspices of local expat businesses, appeals have begun for donations.
Peter Goff, in partnership with Chengdu residents and through the cooperation of The Bookworm, is leading one of these appeals. The Bookworm is a bustling expat online community on book and culture-related activity and has branches in Beijing, Chengdu, and in Suzhou of East China’s Jiangsu province.
The Bookworm Chengdu has become a focal point in assisting expat support for quake victims. Smaller groups, such as Heart to Heart and Morning Tears, are also providing food, water, shelter and medicines.
Expat music acts, including the Bossma Band, Mark on the Piano, Proximity Butterfly and Red Water performed to raise funds at a Bookworm event last Thursday. Heart to Heart also gave a short presentation on their current operations in the affected areas. From the successful one night, more than 33,000 yuan ($4,700) was raised in funds from about 100 members of the local expat community to be directly used by local groups in the relief effort.
Further donations, especially cash, are still welcomed by the groups. Much needed items include: non-perishable food, basic medicines, tents, blankets, sleeping bags, stretchers, small power-generators, small water sanitation equipment, and simple housing materials. The local expat community is also committed to helping fellow residents in the medium to longer-term community recovery efforts. This community recovery process is held together by communication of information which enables people to know what is needed, co-ordinate their activities and avoid creating additional problems.
Sichuan expats centered on the activities of The Bookworm are moving forward to helping interpret the information on all current relief operations and exactly where and when people can help to make a difference to those affected by the disastrous earthquake. For more information regarding donations and recovery efforts, contact the Bookworm on (+86) 028 8552-0177.
The author is Australian Youth Ambassador for Development with the Chengdu Urban Rivers Association.
Tags:Beijing, blanket, Bookworm, business, Chengdu, China Daily, community, coordinate, Donation, earthquake, foreigner, fundraiser, generator, Goff, Heart to Heart, housing, Morning Tears, music, recovery, Relief, sanitation, sleeping bag, stretcher, Suzhou, tent, victim
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