The Red Cross Society of China on Friday,
24 September, transferred US$100,000 to the Taiwan Red Cross Organisation
as part of its continuing efforts to assist over 100,000 people made homeless
by the massive Sept. 21 earthquake in the island of Taiwan.
The bank transfer comes at a time of
heightened Red Cross and Red Crescent assistance to the earthquake victims
with several airlifts of most urgently needed relief supplies arriving
in Taipei over the weekend and continuing into the week.
Additionally, the Red Cross Society of China has opened a nationally advertised bank account and a 24-hour telephone hotline to receive donations. Three Red Cross branches in eastern China - Shanghai, Fujien and Guangzhou - are raising funds locally with the Guangzhou branch collection exceeding RMB 100,000. The Guangzhou local government has also contributed USD 100,000 to the fund raising. The funds will be transferred to the Taiwan Red Cross Organisation in stages over the next few days for procurement of essential relief items for the seriously injured and homeless.
The International Federation has issued an international request for assistance for CHF 3.3 million to assist 100,000 earthquake victims. The Federation is in the process of airlifting several tonnes of relief items to Taiwan, including family size tents, sleeping bags, torches and generators. Futhermore, the Federation is dispatching a senior liaison delegate to Taipei to co-ordinate external Red Cross Red and Crescent assistance. On 24 September the Federation released CHF 200,000 from its emergency fund for the immediate procurement of relief items.
The Taiwan Red Cross Organisation is actively involved in relief distribution with volunteers working around the clock. In cooperation with the Hong Kong Red Cross, the Taiwan Red Cross Organisation is operating a tracing services being used by National Societies in the region, i.e Malaysia and Singapore. The facsimile-based service is accessible at : Tel : + 886-2-236 35 154. The Hong Kong Red Cross Society alone has received over 1,200 tracing request for missing/dislocated persons. Bilingual tracing forms, in Chinese and English, can be downloaded from the Hong Kong Red Cross Website at www.redcross.org.hk and faxed to the Taiwan Red Cross Organisation.