Fifth Email Update from Half the Sky

"Dear Friends,

I dearly wish I had more good news to report. The very best thing I can tell you is that we have not had a single report of injuries from the welfare institutions.

As of this morning (Friday) there were 19,509 people confirmed dead. The State Council today said there will likely be more than 50,000. Today’sgovernment report describes one terrible scene after another: thousandshomeless, thousands missing, thousands injured, thousands trapped orburied alive. Hope for survivors is dimming. There is an urgent call forbody bags to prevent the spread of disease. There have been over 4,400 aftershocks.

HTS Director, Child Development, Ma Lang has arrived in Chengdu and sends this note:

I am deeply touched by your moral and emotional support. I only slept twoof the past thirty hours. The first thing I did after landing was to donate some medicine to the Chengdu Red Cross. It was very much appreciated – exactly what was needed. They gave me a wish list forfurther donations: antibiotics for children and adults, medicine fordiarrhea, cold capsules (not instant medicines that must be mixed in water), bandages, gauze, tape, iodine, cotton swabs, herbal medicine tostop bleeding and some for pain relief. Other much-needed donations include tents, tarpaulins, warm clothes and shoes.

People in Chengdu are doing everything they can to help with the earthquake rescue. I saw all sorts of vehicles carrying things to the donation centers. I registered for blood donation and was put on the waiting list – the blood center was overloaded with donated blood and it’s difficult to transport the blood to the hardest-hit areas.

More to come… Lang Here is the confirmed information we have regarding welfare institutions:

The following institutions not mentioned in yesterday’s note suffered no serious damage: Chengdu 2nd SWI, Chengdu 3rd SWI, Ziyang SWI, Neijing CWI, Chengdu SOS children’s village, Leshan SWI, Ganzi CWI, Guang’an SWI, Suining SWIThe following report damage, but, again, no injuries.

Your generousdonations will help meet all of these requests for assistance:

Bazhon CWI – Severe damage to building; children are fine.

Meishan SWI – Cracks in buildings, have evacuated all children (50+) totents. They have adequate food, water and clothes but request 20 cribsand bedding.

Guangyuan SWI – Damaged buildings, all children have been in tents for 4-5days, often in the blazing sun. They request food, baby formula water,diapers, bedding and other daily necessities. They urgently need drugsand food supplements to protect against disease and heatstroke.

Nanchong SWI – There was substantial damage to buildings, all children(100+, more than half under 6 years-old) are living in tents. They needmore tents, disposable diapers, children’s clothing, wagons, cribs andbedding.

Deyang CWI – Dormitory for school-age children was severely damaged.Although the other buildings seem fine, pending inspection, all childrenand staff have been moved to tents. There has been constant rain and much that was pulled from the buildings has been ruined. They request bedding and children’s clothing. They still have disposable diapers left from our assistance during the winter storms but will be running out of those aswell as infant formula in the coming days.

Mianyang Zitong CWI (update) – Children have been moved back from the military base to a safe building in the institution. There is adequatefood and water but they request clothes, bedding, infant formula, diapersand medicine for colds. They are now caring for 66 children, 23 of themunder 2 years.Sadly, 24 new orphans – earthquake survivors - arrived at the institution yesterday.

We are still unable to reach these orphanages:

Abazhou CWI (52 children)and Mianzhu SWI

Please give what you can to help the children who survive go on with theirlives.If you would like to donate to Half the Sky’s Children’s Earthquake Fund, it would be great if you would do so at Global Giving.

My apologies forgiving incorrect information yesterday; the Ford Motor Company isgenerously matching EMPLOYEE gifts to Global Giving, not ALL! Still, itis an easy and convenient way to make a donation and helps HTS by handling processing of your gifts. Now maybe some other corporation would like tostep up and match ALL donations?!

URL=http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2086a.html

If you prefer to donate directly to Half the Sky, of course that’s fine.Here are the various ways: You can donate by calling Half the Sky (+1 510525 3377) or on our website:
URL=http://give.halfthesky.org/prostores/servlet/Categories?category=Children%27s%2BEarthquake%2BFund

If you would like a Canadian tax receipt, please donate at
URL=http://www.canadahelps.org/CharityProfilePage.aspx?CharityID=s86248

If you would like a Hong Kong tax receipt, please call us at +852 25205266 or online atURL=https://www.paydollar.com/b2c2/eng/charity/payInfo.jsp?charityId=4947

Thank you for your tremendous support. Although it is heartbreaking towrite these reports, we are so honored to be in a position to help duringthis terrible time.

with love,Jenny"