Sichuan Earthquake: CLSS-UK's Endeavor in Rescue and Relief

A devastating earthquake occurred on 12th May, 2008 in Sichuan, China. By Wednesday 21st May, the earthquake had caused a death toll of over 40,000, over 3000 of people missing and over 200,000 injured. Among the swift efforts by Chinese scholars and students in the UK to help our people in the affected area, CLSS-UK, as one of the largest Chinese professional communities in Britain, has been playing an active role.

On the day of the earthquake, Vice Chairman Dr Mingqiang Zhang alerted the CLSS-UK Standing Committee about the disaster at the first time-point, while he was attending a business meeting in the United States. Vice Chairmen Dr Xin Fang, Dr Shiyu Yang and Dr Mingqiang Zhang, as well as webmaster Dr Hongwei Zhang and Newsletter Editor-in-chief Dr Youli Hu, helped Chairman Dr Qihe Xu, who was attending a meeting in Scotland, to call on all members to donate through various channels and to coordinate activities.

On 20th May, Dr Qihe Xu, Dr Henglong Hu (Past Chairman of CLSS-UK and Vice President of the Academy of Life Sciences for Chinese in the UK) and Dr Xuebin Dong (Treasurer of CLSS-UK) represented all members of the CLSS-UK to express deep condolence to victims of the earthquake and handed over a collective cheque of £2,020 to the devastated area through the Chinese Embassy. The donation includes a donation of £1,000 from the CLSS-UK central fund and £1,020 from 13 CLSS-UK committee members.

In addition, CLSS-UK has also been striving to contribute to the rescue and relief in a number of other ways. For example, committee member Dr Jing Deng worked night and day along with his family and friends translating a touching Chinese poem 'Grab My Hands, My Child' written by a mother for kids who died in the disaster, into an elegant English poem, which has been introduced by the CLSS-UK to the Chinese Embassy and many foreign friends. Furthermore, Dr Wei Wang (Past Chairman of CLSS-UK and Vice President of the Academy of Life Sciences for Chinese in the UK) organised a rescue team equipped with modern rescue technologies and applied for permission to go to China to help with the disaster relief. On 21 May, 2008, Dr Wei Wang, Dr Qihe Xu and Dr Xiongzhong Ruan (CLSS-UK Chairman Assistant) organised a teleconference with Dr Li Jin from Health Protection Agency and other experts to discuss the issues related to the prevention of epidemics of diseases after the earthquake so as to provide advice to China through the Chinese Embassy. For details please visit: (PDF, 1.49MB)