Day1 : Story so far

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For those who don’t know me, I came to Australia from Chengdu, China in 1990. Since then I have settled here and live in the tranquil quiet suburb of Balmain, Sydney.

I was completely oblivious until Tuesday morning 6am when a friend of mine, Hugh Alexander, called and asked how my parents were. After a few seconds of complete bafflement, my mood descended into a mixture of despair and anxiety as Hugh explained the situation. Quickly I made a phone call to my family through my mobile, and luckily I got through to my sister after a few failed attempts and learned that all of my family is fine.

My sister lives in the city of Chengdu with her husband and daughter which is about 100km from the epicenter. Very few buildings were damaged in the city itself as most of them are new and well built.



So far about 1000 people have died in Chengdu city and this figure obviously pales in comparison to the death toll from some of the small towns in the mountainous areas.

My parents live in the country side after retiring there in the early 90s near the town of Dujiangyan. Fortuitously they built their house to withstand earthquakes up to 8.0 on the Richter scale. So despite being only 60km from the epicenter of the earthquake which measured 7.9, their house remains standing and both of my parents were not harmed.



Dujiangyan is one of the worst affected areas, in particular one of the schools collapsed, trapping 900 students inside with many of them still missing. Around the area many houses have been flattened as they were owned by poor farmers who are not able to afford the construction of a strong house.


Apart from knowing many people in the area have died or been severely affected, I have little information about this mammoth tragedy imposed on the people of Sichuan. As every day goes by, more bad news is coming out and my desire grows stronger to help not just my family but also those poor farmers who are not able to look after them selves. My holiday to Chengdu was planned three months ago, starting on the 26th May. Now it looks like this relaxing holiday will no longer possible, instead I have decided to use two weeks of my time there to help other people in whatever way I can.

With a decision to put my own money towards this cause, I will decide how the money is best spent after I arrive in the earthquake affected area. The projects I have in mind are helping hospitals offer free treatment to victims, reconstruction of the local school and lastly provide funds to specific individual families who we know need a helping hand.

Many of the international organizations such as the Red Cross have already provided immense help and support to the people of Sichuan. They are doing a great job and I would be making my donations to these organizations if not for the fact that I will be there myself and feel I can engage quickly and directly help some of the people in need.

I am not a formal charity organization and I encourage you to direct your funds to the international organizations, but for those personal friends and family who want to provide funds through myself directly to the village, I will gratefully accept them and do everything in my power to ensure that 100% of your funds will be engaged in the most needy situations around the area of Dujiangyan.

Here are my bank account details:

Account name: Shi Chen
BSB: 242-200
Account no. 81-190-1461
Citi Bank Australia


For China donations, please send the money to:
银行帐号：招商银行成都分行
卡号：9555500280896266
开户人：严建

严建 is my sister's husband, he will ensure the money gets to me.


I will detail the spending of the money on this blog to keep you up to date.


Thanks

Shi bob Chen
0404100055

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Photos

Balmain
Relaxing in Balmain getting ready for fishing

Country House
My parent's country house near Dujiangyan

Country Area
Beautiful country area near my parent's house

Dujiangyan
Dujiangyan - small town with ancient irrigation system

Comments

[Lyu Hongzhang]

Support you
Support you my friendearthquake can not strike us down, it only can let us become stronger

[Belinda]

Good Luck
Hi Shi, I've been reading your blog. It's great. I'm glad you are ok even in the wake of the aftershocks. Your family and you are doing great work in China. Keep up the excellent work. Belinda