The American Baptist World Relief Office has released an initial grant of $5,000 to International Ministries (IM) partner Amity Foundation in China.  The group, which has 8 aid workers on the scene, has played an active role in the ongoing earthquake relief efforts in the Yushu county of Qinghai province where last week’s 6.9 magnitude earthquake took the lives of 2,039 people with 195 still missing. The worst hit area is a Tibetan region, where 93% of the local population is of Tibetan ethnicity.
 
One of the first relief agencies in the area at the rugged and wintry gateway to the Tibetan plateau, Amity has already delivered to the injured and homeless:
 
•    1,680 quilts
•    3,140 cartons of drinking water
•    1,365 cartons of instant noodles
•    45,000 sausages
•    27 tons of rice
•    10.5 tons of flour
•    50 cartons of candles

Benjamin Chan, Area Director of East Asia, India and China, shared this thoughts, “Our hearts go out to those who lost their family members and friends, and are struggling to restore their livelihood. I am also touched by how quickly Amity organized a relief team to extend assistance to the victims. It reflects the organization's value and well established operation, enabling them to join a wider relief effort coordinated by the Chinese Government.”

Amity’s Assistant General Secretary Ms. Hongyu, who provides daily relief updates, wrote on April 21, “The whole country of China is in great sorrow and grief today as time ticks to the seventh day after the devastating earthquake which shook Yushu, Qinghai Province on April 14.  A nation-wide mourning ceremony was held and people paid silent tribute to the victims. The national flag in Tiananmen Square was lowered to half-mast. Amity staffs in Yushu, Xining, and Nanjing mourned and prayed for peace for the deceased and hope for the survivors.”

An estimated 15,000 homes were destroyed in the earthquake which also left over 12,000 people injured.  In addition to the difficult roads and freezing weather, the further impediment of altitude sickness has waylaid some relief workers and hampered relief efforts.

Earthquake relief is not the only humanitarian mission of the Amity Foundation, despite its immediacy.  They are also leading the way in drought relief for 6 Chinese provinces who have experienced a severe and unusually long drought this past winter.  To assist in those efforts, Amity also received $10,000 from OGHS specifically for drought relief.

Donations to One Great Hour of Sharing continue to be needed for this and other ongoing relief efforts around the world.  Donors can give through the IM website: www.internationalministries.org/items/146 or by check to: “OGHS - China Earthquake Relief” and mailed to International Ministries, PO Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851.  Support can also be given by American Baptists through their church by making checks payable to the church with “One Great Hour of Sharing – China Earthquake Relief” written in the memo section.  These gifts will be sent from the church through the American Baptist region and then to International Ministries.

One Great Hour of Sharing is administered by the World Relief Committee of the General Board.  The Committee facilitates American Baptist emergency relief, disaster rehabilitation, refugee work, and development assistance by establishing policy guidelines and overseeing distribution of the annual One Great Hour of Sharing offering.