Re: CHINA - 7.9 earthquake near Chengdu, Sichuan Province
Re: CHINA - 7.9 earthquake near Chengdu, Sichuan Province
Date: 24 May 2008
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China: Sichuan Earthquake Emergency Appeal no. MDRCN003 Operations Update No. 06
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Period covered by this Update: Nine days after the launch of the appeal.
Appeal target (current): CHF 20,076,412 (USD 19.3 million or EUR 12.4 million);
Appeal coverage: 115%
There has been a very generous and quick response to this appeal, and in the nine days since it was launched. Many pledges of funding have been received, and the initial appeal target is already covered. The appeal will be revised early next week based on further assessments and to reflect the requests outlined in the mobilisation table and the additional human resources drafted in to support this operation.
Appeal history:
- This Emergency Appeal was launched on 15 May 2008 for CHF 20,076,412 (USD 19.3 million or EUR 12.4 million) for 12 months to assist 100,000 beneficiaries.
- Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF): CHF 250,000 was allocated from the International Federation?s DREF to support the Red Cross Society of China?s response to the earthquake.
Summary: The 8.0 magnitude earthquake on 12 May devastated eight provinces; Sichuan, (the most severely affected), Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Yunnan, Shanxi, Guizhou and Hubei. In Sichuan, the total affected area measures 65,000 square kilometres, including Aba, Mianyang, Deyang, Chengdu, Guangyuan, Ya?an municipalities and prefectures. According to the State Council, the most severely damaged areas include 44 counties covering 1,061 townships. Over 10 million people are directly affected in Sichuan.
The Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) headquarters, along with its Sichuan branch and many other provincial branches, have been providing non-stop assistance to those in the affected areas. RCSC headquarters has mobilized medical, psychosocial teams, relief vehicles, hundreds of staff and rescue and relief teams from other Red Cross branches to support the operation in Sichuan. The Sichuan Red Cross branch has dispatched medical teams to Pengzhou, Beichuan, Dujiangyan, Anxian, Mianzhu, Shifang and Pingwu to treat thousands of seriously injured people. The branch also sent 43 Red Cross teams consisting of 400 staff to provide assistance to those affected by the disaster. Altogether over 35,000 Red Cross staff and volunteers are assisting in the relief effort.
As of 23 May, the RCSC headquarters and its branches have received more than CNY 5.6 billion (CHF 825 million) in donations, raised nationally and internationally in cash and in-kind. Some CNY 1.4 billion (CHF 206 million) has so far been spent by the RCSC on emergency relief items in the disaster-affected areas.
As part of the ongoing cooperation between the Red Cross Society of China and the International Federation, the executive vice-president of the RCSC has requested the International Federation?s support in coordinating the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement?s international response to the Sichuan earthquake relief efforts. The RCSC has requested for up to 100,000 tents from outside of China. The regional logistics unit in Kuala Lumpur is working on mobilizing these tents and other relief in close coordination and cooperation with the RCSC, the International Federation office in-country and the many partner national societies.
Many partner national societies have made contributions to the appeal: American Red Cross, Australian Red Cross, British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross/Canadian government, Monaco Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross/Netherlands government, New Zealand Red Cross/New Zealand government, United Arab Emirates Red Crescent Society, with other contributions in the pipeline, including those from Belgian Red Cross/Belgian government, German Red Cross/German government and Japanese Red Cross/Japanese government. The International Federation, on behalf of the Red Cross Society of China, would like to thank all partners for their very quick and generous response to this appeal.
The situation
As of 23 May, the death toll from the powerful earthquake which struck the southwest of China on 12 May so far has risen to 55,740, with 292,481 injured, 24,960 missing and 11.36 million displaced according to the information office of the State Council. <click here for a detailed table>. The highest number of casualties occurred in Sichuan province with a recorded 55,239 deaths, and 281,066 injured. The massive earthquake on 12 May levelled entire villages and according to the ministry of civil affairs, some five million people are now homeless. In Sichuan, 1.5 million houses were totally destroyed. Some 4,000 children have now been made orphans as a result of the earthquake according to Sichuan provincial civil affairs department. Aftershocks continue still, with 7,586 recorded thus far.
Medical personnel have been dispatched to all affected counties and townships in Sichuan and other provinces such as Shaanxi and Gansu. With many of the hospitals damaged or destroyed, many patients have been referred to hospitals in Chongqing, Xi?an, Guangzhou, Kunming, Guiyang, Guangdong, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing cities. Disease control staff are continuing with spraying disinfectant in the affected areas.
So far, over 86,500 medical personnel are involved in providing medical services in Sichuan. Some 9,543 personnel are involved in environmental disinfection and epidemic control, including 6,142 professionally trained staff.
So far, 202 out of 254 townships in six of the most damaged areas have been fully disinfected.
So far, 180,000 tents, 5,304 truckloads of food and water, 41,500 tonnes of food, 250,000 clothes and 468,400 quilts have been distributed in Sichuan. Tents and portable toilets remain the most pressing needs. The government has stated that three million tents are urgently needed.
As 23 May, power supply has been resumed in a majority of the affected areas. Only 429 out of 10,457 villages still do not have power supply.
Roads have been cleared in 221 out of 254 townships. However, road conditions remain precarious due to frequent aftershocks, landslides and heavy rains.
The earthquake has caused the creation of 33 ?quake? lakes (formed by rivers blocked by landslides) in nine counties in Sichuan and steps are being taken to reduce the risks of these lakes overflowing and threatening people living in areas downstream.
The three biggest lakes are in Beichuan, Anxian and Qingchua. The quake lake in Beichuan county is 40 metres deep and contains 30- 40 million cubic metres of water. People living downstream of the quake lake in Beichuan have been evacuated. Water levels in some lakes continue to rise and authorities continue to closely monitor the situation, while formulating response plans such as blasting and digging sluices to discharge water, and implementing contingency measures.
Heavy rains are increasing the possibility of floods, mudslides and landslides in earthquake-damaged areas.
As of 22 May, 50 radioactive sources have been detected, 35 of which have been collected and stored, with the balance in the process of being collected. The ministry of environmental protection has taken action to decrease the earthquake?s impact to the environment and to protect the safety of drinking water resources.
According to the local news agency Xinhua, 5.2 million people have been re-located to different areas in Sichuan.
Some 5,673 injured people have been transferred to cities including Chongqing, Xi?an and Guangzhou as of 21 May.
In Mianyang, around 200,000 displaced people continue to be shelters nearly 100 emergency camps.
Out of this number, 50,000 people are in two big municipal sports centres in Jiuzhou and Nanhe. The other 150,000 people are located in emergency shelter camps in Anxian and Pingwu counties. The number of people in each camp greatly varies from ten inhabitants to 20,000 inhabitants per camp.
The government stated that it will provide each person affected by the disaster with CNY10 (CHF 1.5) and half-a-kilogramme of food per day for three months. The sheer numbers involved to sustain this is overwhelming. For example, the Deyang prefecture alone (with 800,000 people affected) will need 400,000 kilogrammes and CNY 8 million (CHF 1.2 million) per day. It is also providing each family with compensation of CNY 5,000 (CHF 753) for each person who has died as a result of the earthquake. Orphans, the elderly and the mentally and physically disabled who had lost their families will receive CNY 600 (CHF 90) per month for three months. So far, over 4,000 children have been confirmed as orphans and many elderly people confirmed as being left without a living family and relatives. They are now being accommodated in the welfare centres of civil affair bureaux in Chongqing, Chengdu and other nearby provinces. This is a temporary arrangement and families are being encouraged to adopt orphans through proper adoption procedures and processes. The ministry of civil affairs will build more welfare centres for orphans should adoption not be viable. These centres will also include the elderly and disabled who are homeless.
There have been reports of certain individuals and organizations collecting funds on behalf of RCSC. The RCSC has not authorized any other person or organization to carry out fundraising on its behalf.
Relief and shelters
According to the ministry of civil affairs, A short-term option is to encourage those without a home to liv
over five million people are estimated homeless as a result of the earthquake.e with relatives and extended families until permanent housing is available. The government plans to reconstruct permanent housing to address this concern. However, considering the large number of people needing shelter, public establishments such as stadiums and empty office buildings will be open for emergency displacement. Meanwhile, tents, awnings and portable cabins are greatly needed and factories in China are running at full gear to increase production to meet the demand.
According to the state council, by 23 May, a total of 403,340 tents, 2.3 million winter quilts and 3.05 million clothes have been allocated to earthquake-affected areas. 384,000 tonnes of wheat and rice are being sent to the region.
For now, there is adequate food and water supplies for three weeks. The ministry of foreign affairs said that 400,000 tents were already being used in the quake zone,
but more than three million were still needed. Other items needed urgently are blankets, mobile toilets, clothes, food and medicine. The government has appealed to the international community to give priority consideration to donating tents.
Basic health care, nutrition, psychosocial support, and water and sanitation
According to the ministry of health, 68,608 people have been hospitalized due to the quake. By 22 May 3,444 had died in hospitals, 28,497 had been discharged and 33,665 were still being treated. Of these, 3,002 patients have been transferred outside of Sichuan for further treatment.
Prior to the earthquake, Sichuan province has a total of 1,155 hospitals, 68 community health care centres, 5,179 sanitation units (equivalent to village clinics), 207 epidemic control and prevention centres (i.e. infectious disease centres), 197 maternity and child care centres. This equates to a total bed capacity of 194,940 beds along with 280,517 health personnel.
Many of these facilities in most of the devastated areas were destroyed or damaged by the earthquake of 12 May and subsequent aftershocks. The Anshan County in Mianyang prefecture had three county-level hospitals with a total bed capacity of 400- 500 beds. These three facilities were assessed as unsafe and all patients have now been moved out into tents and garage shades on the hospital grounds. Hospital personnel are doing their best under these difficult conditions to continue providing care. However, as a result of a lack of necessary medical equipment such as laboratories and diagnostics equipment, surgeons and doctors are no longer able to perform surgeries for now. Inpatients with serious conditions have been transferred to hospitals in Chengdu and other neighbouring provinces. In view of this situation, the Mianyang Red Cross will donate some of its large size tents from the first batch of 1,900 tents arriving next Tuesday to these hospitals.
The World Health Organization has identified treating the injured, communicable disease surveillance and control, safe water and food supply, mental health and psychosocial support, and reconstruction of the health care system in the affected areas as immediate and mid-term health priorities.
Full_Report (pdf* format - 929.7 Kbytes):tiphat:
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-7EXFPK?OpenDocument
