Quake Toll Climbs, OB Supplies Medical Aid
By George Thomas
CBN News Senior Reporter
May 24, 2008
CBNNews.com - SICHUAN PROVINCE, China - The death toll from the China earthquake has crossed the 55,000 mark, and another 25,000 are still missing.
Now, the government is working with aid groups to ensure that the humanitarian crisis they're facing won't escalate - even as time is running short.
A rescue team carried a 100-year-old woman down a hillside - just one of many being evacuated because of new safety concerns.
Last week's earthquake created dozens of new lakes because the shifting debris formed barriers across rivers. But those barriers could collapse from one aftershock, and flood nearby villages downstream. "In the short-term, we don't think there's any danger," Zhu Bing, deputy director of the Sichuan water resources bureau told reporters in Beijing.
"But after all, it's in the disaster area, with aftershocks. If there is a strong aftershock or a strong thunderstorm, there is the danger of collapse."
Meanwhile, rescue missions are ongoing. One woman was pulled out of a water diversion tunnel nine days after the quake hit. When she was found, it took 16 people to get her out.
Many survivors find that they have no where to go.
In all, five-million people are now homeless and the Chinese government is working hard to make tents and other prefabricated huts to quake victims.
Operation Blessing Delivers Medical Aid
Many other countries are doing what they can to pitch in - including CBN's Operation Blessing.
OB is there delivering boxes of medicine and supplies to nearby house churches.
"I don't even have time to miss my family. Look at the line of people waiting to be seen," said volunteer medical doctor Guo Ai Ping.
A couple of days ago, Guo and a team of doctors from different parts of China flew to Sichuan Province to setup this small hospital tent in a corner of Xiangyang Village.
Another doctor, Wang Shao Hong said, "The people here are poor they don't have money to travel to the big hospitals in the cities. So they come to our tent and get free medical
attention."
The doctors working at this small hospital applaud the government for their efforts to bring much needed medical attention to those in the devastated regions.
But the truth is that there is so much devastation here the government can't reach all these places.
"That's where we come in and help fill those gaps," Wang said. "The goal is to have 15
more of these medical centers setup across the village. But because the need is so overwhelming, we are now running out of supplies."
On Wednesday, an Operation Blessing truck delivered more than 40 boxes of medicine, gloves, masks and other medical supplies to the team of doctors.
Today, across the earthquake zone, many hospitals are destroyed or deemed unsafe. Dozens of makeshift medical centers like this one are operating on the front lines to meet the needs of the injured.
Doctors at this care center have asked Operation Blessing to help them keep the medical supplies flowing as they seek to meet the growing demands of a hurting community.
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