Red Cross warms students in quake zone

Students play table tennis in the playground of the Longxing Central School in Lushan county, Sichuan province. The playground was rebuilt thanks to donations from the Red Cross Society of China in the wake of the Ya'an earthquake on April 20, 2013, which damaged the school. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn]

Yang Yanjun is warm despite the biting cold in the mountainous village of Hongxing, Lushan, a county under the administration of Ya'an, Sichuan province, as the 11-year-old dons a warm hat, scarf and gloves.

"Thanks to the Red Cross Society of China, all the students in our school have hats, scarves and gloves this winter," said Yang, a fifth-grader at Longxing Central School, whose father is a migrant worker in Chengdu, the provincial capital.

Earlier this month, staff members of the Red Cross Society of China headed by its executive vice-president Zhao Baige visited Yang's school to distribute hats, scarves and gloves to all the students.

With 520 students, Longxing Central School, which was at the epicenter of the Ya'an earthquake on April 20, 2013, was badly damaged in the magnitude-7 quake.

"With the support of the the RCSC, the school was rebuilt and we bid farewell to prefabricated houses where we had studied for one semester," said Wang Yue, a seventh-grader at the school.

Headmaster Wang Zhiqiang said the RCSC has donated nearly 7.6 million yuan ($1.2 million) for 300 square meters of new school buildings, the repair and reinforcement of 5,050 sq m of existing buildings and to create new sports facilities covering 6,510 sq m.

The latest statistics available show the RCSC has received donations of money and materials worth nearly 1.2 billion yuan for the Ya'an quake. The donations came mainly from social organizations, enterprises and individuals and accounted for 40 percent of all donations for the quake.

"The RCSC has spent more than 620 million yuan of the nearly 1.2 billion yuan worth of donated money and materials in the reconstruction of the Ya'an quake zone," Zhao said.

All of the 254 reconstruction projects aided by the RCSC in the Ya'an quake zone have been started. They include new villages, hospitals, clinics and schools, she said.

The Red Cross Society of China has provided more than 620 million yuan of donated money and materials for the reconstruction of the Ya’an quake zone, said RCSC executive vice-president Zhao Baige. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn]