2008 Sichuan Earthquake

From Peace Corps Wiki

A major earthquake struck Sichuan Province on May 12, 2008, killing tens of thousands of people. The final death toll has not yet been assessed. All current Peace Corps volunteers are safe and accounted for, but the disaster has likely affected thousands of former students of Peace Corps volunteers.

Contents 1 On the Ground 2 People and Places Affected 2.1 Chengdu 成都 2.2 Mianyang 绵阳 2.3 Pengzhou 彭州 2.3.1 External Links for Pengzhou 2.4 Wenchuan 汶川 3 Current Volunteers 4 External Links 4.1 Relief Efforts

[edit] On the Ground

[edit] People and Places Affected

[edit] Chengdu 成都

[edit] Mianyang 绵阳

Some current Peace Corps volunteers plan to teach English to children in Mianyang in the summer of 2008. The program they participate in may also be open to former volunteers. Volunteers can arrive in Mianyang after August 7th, 2008.

Older buildings in Mianyang and surrounding areas were severely damaged by the May 12 quake.

Peace Corps volunteers used to live in the city -- Sichuan's second largest, after Chengdu--but there were no open programs or current volunteers there when the earthquake struck.

Students and friends of former volunteers were affected.

[edit] Pengzhou 彭州

Pengzhou City (just northwest of Chengdu) reported 870 people dead and 3,097 injured after the earthquake, according to a May 17 Xinhua story. Smaller towns in the surrounding areas of Pengzhou County were more severely damaged.

The Peace Corps presence in Pengzhou began with the first group of China volunteers in 1993. American teachers worked at Chengdu Teachers College (成都师范高等专科学校), which in 2003 merged with a school in nearby Deyang (德阳) to become Xihua University (西华大学).

[edit] External Links for Pengzhou

Official Pengzhou Website
Xihua University

[edit] Wenchuan 汶川

[edit] Current Volunteers

[edit] External Links

[edit] Relief Efforts

PeaceCorpsWiki makes no guarantee of the validity of the organizations below, this is just a collection of websites.

• Beichuan Project

http://beichuanproject.blogspot.com/

A former volunteer and her former student are launching a scholarship fund for a middle school in Beichuan.

• Idealist

Links to various organizations that are taking donations.

• Sichuan University of Science and Engineering

http://hth.suse.edu.cn/

This fund is to help students at this Zigong university help the people in the earthquake zone. Zigong was "not affected so much except some shakes and shocks," according to one resident. But 3,000 of the school's students were from heavily affected areas, according to the site linked above. The fund will help them continue their studies.

• Committee of 100 China Earthquake Relief Fund

http://www.committee100.org/

a donor advised fund in collaboration with Give2Asia.

• DRI

http://www.directrelief.org/

provides medical assistance through material and financial support to partner organizations worldwide. DRI also provides support in the wake of disasters, such as the recent earthquake in China.

• Alpha Communities

http://www.alphacommunities.org/earthquake.php

• MercyCorps

http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/

• InterAction -- American Council for Voluntary International Action

http://www.interaction.org/china

This link has a list of tens of organizations providing relief and summaries of their goals.

• Hands on Chengdu

http://www.handsonchengdu.org/

HOC will be involved is some projects with education in the future. Right now, the website is just collecting volunteer and NGO info, but will be doing much more in the future.

• Heart to Hearth

http://hth.suse.edu.cn/

To help these students cope with this disaster, rebuild their homes and continue their study, the foreign teachers teaching at Sichuan University of Science and Engineering have suggested a donation project to help them.

• Sichuan Quake Relief

http://www.sichuan-quake-relief.org/

A group of expatriate friends in Chengdu have chosen to stay to help with relief efforts, and have come together to form a group.

• AirCares

http://www.nwa.com/corpinfo/aircares/donate/

Transfer WorldPerks miles to The Salvation Army in any increment and Northwest Airlines will match WorldPerks mileage transfers of up to a total of one million WorldPerks miles. Transfer miles online or if you prefer, call 1-800-327-2881. Make sure to have your WorldPerks number and PIN ready.

or

Give Money - Donate $50 or more directly to The Salvation Army and receive 500 WorldPerks Bonus Miles.

2008 Sichuan Earthquake follows the same naming convention as an article in Wikipedia. go there! What's this?