When I woke up this morning in Beijing, my home, I didn’t expect to be rushing to the airport to be in the heart of the earthquake relief and response - Chengdu. 

As the morning unfolded, it was obvious that I needed to go.  Operation Blessing was asked by the China Social Work Association and Children’s Hope International to leave immediately with them to launch a disaster response focused on at risk children, primarily orphans. 

In a disaster, children are particularly vulnerable and often need specialized medical relief supplies such as pediatric IVs, infant formula, rehydration salts, etc.  Children are also likely to experience post-traumatic stress and we can play a key role in helping deliver relief to China’s smallest citizens. 

My husband packed my bag while I said good-bye to my toddlers and called authorities to see if I could even board the plane.  We were intending on traveling to Chengdu on a Chinese navy plane - and as a foreigner, that isn’t an easy thing to do.  I was assured I could go and given an official letter authorizing my trip, but we quickly realized after hearing that more than 1,000 doctors and nurses were waiting to get on the same plane that perhaps we should just go on a commercial flight. 

We rushed to the airport with 15 bags - including specialized supplies for children - and the airlines waived all baggage fees for us.  The flight was filled with disaster response workers, including a mountain climbing club from Beijing.  They came as volunteers with all their gear and hard helmets to help dig out victims. 

As we landed in Chengdu, everyone moved quickly to gather their gear and start working.  As I exited the airport with other relief workers, we watched in amazement as probably 70 huge tour buses drove by quickly in a long line - probably the navy plane arriving with supplies and doctors. 

The night was filled with meetings, e-mails, mobile messages and Skype calls. Supplies are running out in commercial outlets in the city.  Shelves are now bare as the government, NGOs and citizenry bought up everything available.  We have supplies coming and hope to participate with the Red Cross in providing aid to families tomorrow.
 
The death toll climbs - now more than 16,000.  My hotel room is one of the few in town with running water and the bed is covered with official letters, China Red Cross stickers, Operation Blessing gear, camera cords and maps.

As it nears midnight, I think they need to be piled elsewhere so I can get a few winks.  CNN is warning of an impending dam breaking which could impact 500,000 people. 18,000 people still remain buried in Mianyang. Our team in Mianyang tonight are likely sleeping outside in the drizzle, and I think of the mountain climbing club going to rescue people trapped in Pengzhou. 

Tomorrow is another day of ups and downs… I say a prayer for favor and click off CNN for the night…
 
 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 5:07 pm and is filed under Asia, China Disaster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.