By Erica Lyons
Managing Editor

Following the massive earthquake that sent waves of destruction across China’s Sichuan Province, Jewish groups worldwide quickly mobilised to provide much needed assistance. The quake, of 12 May 2008, measured a staggering 7.9 magnitude on the Richter scale.

Loading supplies in Israel headed for Sichuan

Weeks after, the death toll is estimated at 62,000 and the battle far from over as aftershocks and collateral damage continue to reek havoc and present constant challenges. In addition to the rising death toll, 23,775 people are still missing.

On Sunday, 25 May 2008, in the week following the disaster, an Israeli plane set out for the city of Chengdu with humanitarian aid coordinated by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Over one and a half million dollars were collected through a donation of one million dollars by Israel Corporation and its subsidiaries, and half a million from philanthropists Diane and Gilford Glazer and the Ofer Family, through the United Israel Appeal.

While Israel had initially offered to send search and rescue teams to assist the Chinese rescue workers, China reportedly declined the offer stating that the provision of supplies were desperately needed.

The plane, provided by El Al, carried nearly 90 tons of medicines and medical equipment, water purifi cation kits, generators, tents, sleeping bags, and clothing intended for the earthquake survivors. The aid comes in addition to money already transferred by the Israeli embassy in Beijing to the Chinese Red Cross used for immediate evacuations and a shipment of sleeping bags and blankets.

Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni offi ciated at the ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport, on 25 May, in which the aid shipment was symbolically presented to the Chinese ambassador to Israel. Representatives from the Israel Corporation, the United Israel Appeal and the Director General of the Council for the Promotion of Israeli- Chinese Relations, Ms. Tamara Yaron, participated as well.

At the ceremony, Foreign Minister Livni stated, “What Israel is doing this morning is the minimum that we can do to express the warm relations between Israel and China. As soon as the disaster occurred, we turned to the Chinese and asked what we could do.” She further explained that this type of humanitarian action is a central part of our ethical code.

Chinese Ambassador Zhao warmly thanked Foreign Minister Livni as well as the donors’ representatives and was quoted stating that, “it is in times of trouble that we find our true friends.”

Mr. Amos Nadai, Ambassador of Israel to China, Mr. Tang Hong, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Affairs Offi ce of the Sichuan Provincial Government, were present when the supplies arrived at the Chengdu airport. A brief hand-over ceremony was held. Ambassador Nadav said, “Israel continues to watch with the deepest concern and distress the ongoing tragedy being faced by China and its people in the wake of the earthquake… the outpouring of sentiment in our country is deep and genuine.”

The Israeli government also pledged an additional US $10,000 to go directly to the Hongkou area where two Israeli students, Anat Bilu and Maayan Segev, were stranded following the quake.

Bilu and Segev, both in Chengdu for an exchange programme with Israel’s Reidman College of Complementary Medicine, were seriously injured while touring the nature reserve in Dujiangyan. They sought shelter in the remote village of Hongkou and were aided by local victims of the quake.

Consul General Alon Shoham and a press offi cer boarded one of the fi rst fl ights to Chengdu two days after the earthquake to aid in the local search effort. The students were found and given immediate medical care at Chengdu Hospital.

The compassion they were shown by Chinese citizens, while they were stranded and during their rescue and recovery, shows that this bond of friendship runs deeply both ways.

_{(Issue June 2008)}