China's aid has kept pouring into hardest-hit areas in central Philippines as death toll and cost of damages by super typhoon Yolanda spiral.
1. The medical team of more than 50 doctors and nurses have arrived at Cebu in the midnight of Nov. 21 by a chartered flight, along with 6 tons of medical supplies. Due to the land traffic problem, they will start off tonight to Baybay and set up camps and work there.
A medical team of 10 members from Red Cross Society of China(RCSC) is scheduled to arrive at Cebu today, they will join another medical team of 19 people of RCSC to head for Palo tonight by boat, where medical service is imperative since there is no international medical teams there yet. All the members of the RCSC teams are experienced professionals since they either worked in China's Sichuan earthquake in 2008 or Indonesia Tsunami in 2004.
H.E. Ambassador Ma Keqing made a special trip to Cebu to see the medical teams off to the disaster areas. She encouraged all the members to extend the good feelings of the Chinese people to the Philippines by working hard to save lives, thus act as a bridge to the friendship of both peoples.
2. A cargo of P37.8 million worth of supplies, including 2000 tents, 2000 sleeping bags, medicine and medical devices donated by RCSC has arrived at Cebu on Nov. 21 and been turned over to their Philippine counterpart.
Mme. Zhao Baige, Vice President of Chinese Red Cross and Vice President of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has arrived in Manila in the evening of Nov. 21 to join the the Typhoon Yolanda movement support mission of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
In the morning of Nov. 22, she briefed the local media on RCSC's assistance to the Philippines and shared China's experiences in post-disaster re-habitation work, she disclosed that the Philippine Red Cross will pay a visit to China's Sichuan to have a field trip to its earthquake-hit area at the invitation of RCSC early next year to learn more about China's rich experience in post disaster reconstruction. She also expressed the RCSC's willingness to redouble its support for the Yolonda striken area. Later on, Mme. Zhao will have a field trip to disaster area.
3. The Peace Ark Hospital Ship has started off in the morning of Nov. 21 from China and is expected to arrive in the disaster-hit area on Nov. 25. The Peace Ark, with 106 medical professionals and world-class equipment on board, will do its utmost to offer medical services to local victims. Peace Ark is the first 10,000- ton-class hospital ship in the world, to the Philippines for medical aid. The Ship is equipped with 217 types and 2406 units of advanced medical systems including CT Scan room, digital X-ray photographic studio, blood bank, oxygen generation station, compressed air system, pharmacy, etc. Peace ark is equipped with 300 ward beds of various types, including 20 ICU ward beds, 109 ward beds for serious injury, 67 burn ward beds, 94 regular ward beds, 10 beds of quarantine ward. There is also tele-medicine diagnose system, and three lifts with special specifications for transferring the wounded on the board.
4. The 73 million Pesos worth of aids that the Chinese government pledged, which are composed of 10,000 blankets and 2,600 tents with each holds a capacity of 6-10 people, has delivered to the Philippine side on Nov. 19. (Please see the attached picture)
5. China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a well-known NGO named after the late Chinese Honorary President, is busy preparing 200 mobile houses(P22.4 million worth) to donate to Leyte, East Samar, and Bohol.
6. The Chinese companies based in the Philippines have been mobilizing and organizing their staff including local ones to extend relief helps to the victims. The Association of Chinese Companies in the Philippines are also taking part in this efforts. They have donated P7.5 million to buy 3 payloaders much-needed for clean-up of the disaster areas.
Huawei Co., an international frontrunner of telecom industry, has been working on day and night in restoring the lifeline of communication in typhoon-affected areas. After Typhoon Yolanda caused massive breakdown to its operation network, the company immediately assessed the losses, set up team of experts, and sent more than a dozen engineers to Tacloban with much-needed facilities. With their hard work, Huawei successfully provided helped bring the telecommunication networks of PLDT, SMART, and GLOBE in the disaster areas back to normal, thus ensured the normal operation of communications networks in the disaster-hit areas.
China National Grid Co., the technical partner of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines(NGCP) has donated $100,000 to disaster area. It also contributes a lot in restoring the power system of the Typhoon-hit areas. It is now sending technical expert teams to the Philippines, to join NGCP's post-disaster rebuilding efforts and work out a faster restoration of the power grids in the disaster areas.
The Yinyi INC., a mining company based in Eastern Samar, where the typhoon severely devastated, also offered help. It generously granted its storage of food, water and other supplies to the victims, and used all its equipments such as payloaders to clear roads, and donated its diesel stockpile to support the relief work. The company has raised P250,000 worth of cash, food, medicine and clothes, and will donate to GMA Kapuso funds and ABS-CBN funds.
7. Mr. Liang Wen-chong, the former Asian Tour No. 1 donated half of his first-place purse of US$135,000 - US$67,500 or close to P3 million - to the victims of typhoon Yolanda after winning the Resorts World Manila Masters."I am very sorry about the typhoon that happened last week. I've decided to donate 50 percent of my winnings this week to Red Cross as a form of respect and gesture to those affected by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda)," Mr. Liang Said.
8. The Chinese Embassy has been working around to clock to facilitate all the relief efforts. Moreover, it also joined the government's efforts in donating P1.2 million worth of emergency supplies, including radios, emergency lights and flashlights to Leyte and Samar directly. The diplomats in the Embassy organized a donation for the Filipino staff who are from the Typhoon hit areas.
China suffered from the same Super Typhoon as well, which affected 4 million people and has caused huge losses and some casualties. The Chinese people are empathetic with the hardships the Philippine people are facing. After Typhoon Yolanda hit the Philippines, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended their condolences respectively to Philippine President Aquino and Foreign Minister Del Rosario. The Chinese government and its Red Cross Society delivered $200,000 emergency remittance assistance to the Philippine. The relevant Chinese authorities and Chinese Embassy are following closely the relief operations and will render further assistance to the needs of the Philippine people.