Taiwanese charities urged the public to make donations in the wake of the deadly earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan Province on Saturday.
Officials from the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China said on Saturday that they would allocate 5 million yuan (US$810,000) of the donations received after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to help with disaster relief following Saturday’s earthquake.
To date, the Red Cross Society has collected NT$1.62 billion (US$54.43 million) in donations from the public for its six-year emergency relief and reconstruction program for the 2008 quake, the charity said.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
World Vision Taiwan said its staff in Kunming, China, have joined local relief efforts and that it plans to raise NT$10 million to help with the first stage of World Vision China’s post-disaster work. The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation announced that it has prepared more than 10,000 blankets and 10,000 packages of daily necessities to be distributed to earthquake victims.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese celebrities and businesses have also made donations and offered condolences to the victims of the earthquake.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; Want Want Holdings, the largest producer of rice cakes in China; and the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, have donated a total of more than NT$350 million to relief efforts.
Hon Hai, which goes by the trade name Foxconn in China, late on Saturday extended condolences to the victims of the quake on behalf of chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Foxconn workers.
The group said it has donated 50 million yuan to the Sichuan Province Government and will assign its staff to assist in disaster relief efforts in the affected areas.
Meanwhile, Want Want chairman and chief executive Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) donated HK$20 million (US$2.57 million) to the relief efforts, while his group donated 5 million yuan to Sichuan Province.
The Shanghai chapter of the Taiwanese business association has donated 1 million yuan for disaster relief and reconstruction.
Singer Jay Chou (周杰倫) announced that he would donate 1 million yuan to the victims and actor Peter Ho (何潤東) and singer Annie Yi (伊能靜), who both work in China, pledged 300,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan respectively.
Ching Hsin Book Foundation, established by Yi to assist children, pledged a donation of 150,000 yuan and said Yi will deliver the money personally early next month.
A number of actors, including Nicky Wu (吳奇隆) and Wilson Chen (陳柏霖), also offered their condolences to quake victims.
In related news, a magnitude 5 earthquake struck off Lanyu (Orchid Island, 蘭嶼) yesterday, followed by a magnitude 4.8 quake in the sea off Yilan County, according to the Central Weather Bureau.
The epicenter of the first quake was approximately 90.7km southeast of Taitung, at a depth of 15.6km and was recorded at about 7:09am. The second quake struck 69.2km southeast of Yilan at a depth of 69.5km at 11:07am, the bureau said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
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