It has been three months since the great earthquake struck Sichuan Province. Survivors staying in tents have moved into pre-fabricated homes, and temporary classrooms are ready for the school reopening soon. Picture:The youngsters have now returned to class catching up with their studies.

After the strong quake hit Sichuan, and following the arrival of its first relief team on May 14, Tzu Chi has dispatched a total of 17 batches of relief teams (with each team staying a week) to bring timely aid and comfort to the quake survivors. After three months of companionship, the last batch of the relief team bid farewell to the Shifang locals on 25 August 2008.

From emergency relief aid distribution, hot meals, free clinics, home visits, free hair cuts to construction of temporary classrooms, the volunteers have continued to provide various types of caring and support to the survivors. With the short-term relief work drawn to a close, mid- and long-term projects will commence soon to construct permanent housing and schools for the quake survivors.

Summary of Reliefs Extended

Hot meal provision in Deyang County
Jingsan Town in Luojiang District; Luocheng Village and Yonxin Park of Liuhe Community in Luoshui Town, Shifang City; Penghua Village in Zundao Town, Mianzhu City; Wudu Village in Hanwang Town, Mianzhu City. (From May 16 till mid August, over 810,000 hot meals have been distributed in the five service points.)

House-to-house medical outreach in Deyang County
Luojiang District; Shifang City; Mianzhu City. (A total of 35,612 people treated)

Home caring visits in Deyang County

Project Hope in Deyang and Mianyang Counties (More schools will be added to the list)

The construction of temporary classrooms

--In Deyang: Luoshui Middle School, Shifang; Luoshui Centre Primary School, Luashui Centre Kindergarten; Bayi Primary School & Lingjie Middle School. All were completed at the end of July. (Cooking utensils, mattresses, stationery and school bags were provided too)
--In Mianyang: Middle School for Youxian Zone, Xiaojiangao Town

The construction of schools

--In Deyang: Luoshui Middle School, Shifang; Luashui Centre Kindergarten; Fangting Middle School
--In Mianyang: Primary and Middle Schools for Youxian Economic Experimental Zone

Reconstruction of Homes and Temples in Deyang County

Permanent home construction at Guangming Village, Fuxing Town, Zhongjiang District
Provided home appliances to occupants of the temporary homes in Shifang City and Mianzhu City.
Building of temporary rooms for temples
--In Shifang: A total of five temples; in Mianzhu: Guanghua Zen Monastery

Stories of Great Love

Victim cooked for victims

Yang Chuan Xiu is a 74-year old grandma, who lost her husband and grand-daughter to the quake. Despite her personal tragedy and a victim herself, she prepared hot porridge for her countrymen as she could not bear to see them starving. She also allowed others to use her stove as well as her vegetables and seasonings. “It does not mean that you stop being concerned about others when you are struck with disaster. Everyone has a kind nature. It is hard not to do anything when you see others suffering.” As such, she turned her grief into action.

Mobile clinic

The doctor serving at Tzu Chi’s Yongxin service station followed a young local volunteer to Yuan Village. There, he attended to the village folks, either under a tree or beside the rice field, with the young volunteer as interpreter.

The doctor comforted the village folks and asked them to take care of their health. More importantly, now that they are safe, they should stay cheerful when they wake up each morning for their good fortune, and to get well soon.

Let me help you, Grandma

A grandma came to the free clinic station at Luocheng Primary School to seek treatment for her arthritis. Sympathizing with the grandma’s condition, Sister Yan Hui Mei decided to help groom her hair. That afternoon, volunteers went to her house and patiently coerced her to submit to the volunteers’ request to wash and cut her hair. After the grooming, Grandma looked clean and neat with her new hairstyle. When volunteers handed her some biscuits, she said, “Please give the biscuits to the young volunteers.”

Grandma came back to the free clinic station to thank the volunteers the following morning. The volunteers noticed that her toenails badly needed trimming. As her toenails were hard to trim and filthy, the young volunteers immediately brought a tub of water for grandma to soak and scrub her feet. The water instantly turned black after the wash. They felt sorry that she has no one to take care of her.