ReliefWeb

The Situation
The massive flooding ravaging China this summer are the worst floods that country has experienced since 1954. The toll, to
date:

• More than 3,000 people dead
• Five million houses destroyed, millions of families displaced
• Property loss of $25-30 million, including crop losses and flooding of oil installations
• More than 250 million people - a fifth of China's population - affected

With the year's first frost just weeks away, the afflicted provinces are still receiving heavy rains, leaving thousands more families homeless every day. Flood waters are not expected to recede for at least a month. Widespread health problems such as dysentery, cholera, and conjunctivitis are being reported. Many of the hospitals and clinics that would otherwise care for the sick and injured have been obliterated by flash flooding. Many more facilities have been badly damaged by rising waters, much of their supplies destroyed.

The Response

Based on Project HOPE's 15 year record in China, and in particular our success in managing a major earthquake relief effort there last year, the Chinese Red Cross has asked us to lead the voluntary efforts to provide medical humanitarian assistance for victims of the flood. A number of pharmaceutical companies have agreed to donate medicines and supplies for this effort. Boeing will provide a 747 cargo aircraft, and China Air will provide in-country air transport to the affected areas. The Chinese Red Cross and Civil Defense authorities will handle ground transport. HOPE staff will accompany the shipments and oversee distribution to temporary field hospitals and aid stations, and to those surviving medical facilities designated as referral sites for the flood victims. HOPE plans additional air and sea shipments over the months ahead, following this first emergency airlift.

Capabilities

Though its programs are fundamentally long-term, Project HOPE is often asked to lead the international medical response to floods and other disasters because it is thorough, deliberate, and effective. We work hand-in-hand with local and in-country organizations and health officials, we solicit and ship medicines and supplies that are specifically needed, and we follow through to make sure these products reach their ultimate destination.

Supporting the Relief Effort

Project HOPE is appealing for financial support from concerned individuals and corporations, so that we can mobilize our own resources to package and inventory the supplies, dispatch them to the airport, coordinate the distribution on site, and monitor the campaign.