On a dusty patch of ground on the edge of the Taklamakan desert the horses stamped impatiently. It had taken some many hours to reach this spot from across the Yengisar region, and their pulses raced with the urge to begin.

The wind blew softly across the low scrubby hills where the game was to be held. Flags marked the outer boundary and row upon row of horse and rider danced perceptibly in anticipation of the great game of Oglak Tartis…

It had been almost three years since I’d seen my first game in Afghanistan. My first encounter with the true language and ferocity of the horsemen of the Steppe had created such a strong impression, that I’d been aching to relive the experience ever since.

Known as Kok boru in Kyrgyzstan, Buzkashi in Afghanistan and Oglak Tartis elsewhere, the game is said to have originated with Ghengis Khan’s armies over 800 years ago during lightning forays into enemy territory to snatch goats and other livestock without dismounting.

It quickly became of a game of agility, used as a means to settle old blood feuds and prepare new recruits in the ways of steppe warfare. Khans and kings were known to assert their authority under the banner of their winning teams and the invention of the spectator sport form is only a recent phenomenon.¹

Played throughout all the Central Asian Republics today, the rules are essentially the same throughout: take one skinned, beheaded and de-hoofed goat or calf, a few dozen of the finest horsemen on earth and let them loose on a pitch the size of several football fields.²

There are two primary versions of the game in play. Until the 1950’s the most popular version of the game in Afghanistan, involved placing a calf carcass in the center of a pitch with up to a hundred mounted horsemen - sometimes from opposing teams.

Whoever succeeded in removing the carcass, lapping the pitch and tossing the carcass over the goal line won, though the price for doing so may be at the cost of several lives, both human and equine.

In 1952, the Afghan Olympic Committee placed limits on the game in an attempt to nationalize the sport and bring a semblance of order. The game was split into two teams of 10 riders with opposing goals at each end of the pitch and a time limit assigned to each match.

Leagues were created and rumours even begun about making the game an Olympic sport!³ But then rules are only ever a guide and certainly added nothing to the skill and accomplishment I was about to bear witness on this small patch of scrubland on the rim of the Taklamakan.

Just as three years ago, the occasion that merited this game of Oglak Tartis was Nauroz, Central Asia’s New Year and a major cause for celebration.

Dust hung thick in the air of a sandy bowl as dozens of horses arrived toed by motor-trike or ridden to the event. Small dust devils whirled and eddied around the desert nearby and grit got into everything as I set my camera up to film.

This was a regular event for the people of this area and no one was passing up the chance to watch or take part. Most villages in and around the Western Taklamakan have their own teams and occasions like the one today always drew big crowds.

By 2 pm, horseman from as far away as 20kms away huddled in groups against the wind and the crowd had swelled to well-over 500. Businessmen did a thriving trade selling a combination of sweet bread and a sticky ice laden drink of caramel and plums.

At either end of the pitch, two goals sprouted like de-canvassed umbrellas awaiting their respective teams. The rules were simple. Two teams of ten horsemen competed to score as many ‘goals’ as possible by flinging a toughened sheep’s carcass on top of their opponent’s goal. This might have been the league version of the game but the skill was no less.

The opening ceremony didn’t amount to much – nothing more than a brief speech by village elders committing the games in the honour of Nauroz – and within minutes two teams of horseman were locked in a ‘scrum’ formation in the centre of the arena.

Hanging almost completely off his steed, one rider effortlessly scooped a sheep carcass off the sandy floor and booted his stallion away from the pack, horse and rider streaming away from a quickly ensuing mob, whooping and hollering for all his worth.

The sun was already near its peak as the games began, and everything had a milky white glow making it hard to distinguish man from horse through the clouds of dust that billowed around.

Nearing a goal post, the man flung the goat carcass high above the mayhem and onto the umbrella top, catching the outer-rim dangerously but not falling off. The referee hurried over to check and a goal was announced, to a renewed banter of whoops and hollers from the winning side.

Like a true child of the steppe lands that spawned it, only the best horsemen compete in these matches for only the best could survive. Though the Xinjiang game lacks the brutal force of its free-for-all Afghani cousin, it requires much more finesse and skill to compete in.

Before every game each fresh goat carcass is soaked in icy water for 24 hours to toughen up the hide to survive a new match. Once complete the insides are stuffed with wet sand to give the carcass a weight in excess of eight kilos.

Though carcasses can weigh up to 40kgs on the fields of Afghanistan, the players in Xinjiang have a much harder time, throwing the carcass high onto the goal posts. Many even lack the protective padding that many chapandez riders wear on the traditional Buzkashi fields of Afghanistan.3

Over the course of the afternoon, six games were played in all, each at 20 minutes. After the games were over, the players with the most goals won prizes of steel kettles, but it was it was the glory of the moment that drove most riders to compete today. The universal need among the Pamiri people’s to connect with a deeper instinct born on the grasslands of Central Asia eons ago.

Some might believe the game barbaric but this is a game practiced at a level of horsemanship that not even the best English riders could hope to match. A game passed down from generation to generation among races that grew out of the saddle rather than into it.

While many may have forgotten, we all at one stage came from nomadic roots and this was a belief that not even the sedentary Uighurs of Xinjiang seem to have forgotten in this ‘wild-barbaric’ game on the edge of the Taklamakan.

————–

1. In the 1950s, Afghanistan was unified under the banner of Buzkashi, a tactic President Karzai is attempting to repeat today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/nov/23/afghanistan.travelnews
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1562909,00.html
2. In times past pitches used to be up to several kilometers in length.
3. Back in the 1950s, following a surge of popularism pushed to make Buzkashi an Olympic sport.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1562909,00.html

© Stephen for Riding for Education, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Read more entries in China, Diary, General, Journal.

At 0:45am on 8th June the waters of Tanjiashan Lake in China’s earthquake hit Sichuan province finally broke the sluice level and began draining safely down the valley.

Ever since the earthquake hit on May 12^th armies of engineers, workmen and bulldozers have been working around the clock to avert a possible disaster caused by the ‘earthquake lake’ bursting its banks and their efforts seem to have paid off.

In the city of Mianyang downstream of the dam, the streets were virtually empty as people were evacuated and the sluice did its work. People heaved a sigh of relief as the concerted action of thousands of soldiers drained a lake the size of 50,000 Olympic sized swimming pools.

Yet the threat caused by the earthquake to millions of lives throughout Western China has thrown the whole future of dam building into question, raising concerns about the future of China’s energy needs that can no longer be ignored.

The Hydro Solution

Over the past 30 years, the country’s boundless appetite for energy has already made it the second largest consumer of energy in the world, after the US, with a growth rate reaching a staggering 16% in 2004.

Demand currently far outstrips supply and the push to develop Hydro power has made China the world’s largest producer with over half the globe’s stockpile of dams within its borders.

Whilst the nation relies primarily on coal to keep its economy surging, Hydro is cleaner, relatively efficient and in plentiful supply throughout the nation. The resource supplies 6 percent of China’s energy needs and the nation still only uses one fourth of its current potential.

However, while hydroelectric energy is renewable, the land its dams are built on is not and the geological instability of the area may have far-reaching repercussions for China’s hydroelectric future.

After two weeks of downplaying the problem, the Water Resources Ministry acknowledged Sunday that 69 reservoirs and dams were on the verge of collapse, and nearly 3,000 in China had sustained damage.

Dangerous times

Of China’s 87,000 dams, the country’s Economic planning agency initially declared that 391 were affected by the earthquake, two of them severely as they lay near the epicenter of the 7.9 earthquake.

Two weeks later this figure was massively revised to 3000 dams and reservoirs affected with 69 on the “verge of collapse,” threatening millions of lives downstream.

Zipingpu dam in Wenchuan county was one of the two dams most badly affected by the quake and a typical example of the country’s current ‘erect dams at all cost’ way of thinking.

Despite warnings from the Sichuan Seismological Bureau that the dam’s construction site lay near a major fault line in Sichuan province, the dam was still given the green light in 2000.

After the May 12th quake, thousands of engineers rushed to plug what the Chinese media reported as “extremely dangerous cracks” across its outer face and while no catastrophic disaster occurred, the event is being treated by many as a major warning of things to come.

We have a saying that bridges are silver, highways are gold, and dams are diamonds. If you get a contract to build a dam, there is so much money.

The International Rivers Network reports that China has 28,500 large dams across the country with many in areas prone to seismic activity.

The rush to build dams across China has also prompted speculation that dams may not always be constructed for need of energy alone due to the size of the construction contracts and the amount of money that can easily be sidelined and pocketed by local officials.

A recent government report in January 2008 stated that 37,000 dams built during the 50’s and 60’s were already dangerously unstable and Beijing has recently earmarked $1.3 billion to repair them.

The Grand Energy Plan

However in the push to achieve energy independence, does China really any choice in the push for alternative sources of energy? Rising energy prices, outstripped demand and rampant inefficient in the energy industry provide Beijing with few options to play around with.

Energy Security

With demand for energy predicted to increase at an average 6% annually for the next few years, China faces fresh challenges in its drive to power the nation.

Over 75 % of China’s energy needs come from coal, yet today the nation is a net importer (as of 2007). Though oil reserves exist in the East China Sea, China’s stake is relatively minor and many others are claimed by rival nations.

By 2025 a staggering 77 percent of China’s oil supplies will be foreign supplied prompting the country to scramble to secure energy wherever it can, including from questionable sources such as the Sudan.

Outstripped demand

Though the country’s per capita energy use pales in comparison with the US and Japan, the market potential for cars, air conditioners and other market appliances etc… has yet to take off and could do with frightening speed unless planned for.

In an economy dominated by heavy industry, demand already regularly outstrips supply leading to frequent blackouts across the country causing huge spikes in the global price of oil such as in 2004.

The very legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is widely seen as resting on the economic prosperity of the country and an inability to supply enough power could further more lead to mass unrest in an already unstable society.

Inefficiency

China’s energy generation is massively inefficient using about three times as much energy per unit of GDP as the US alone and nine times more than Japan. Though reducing such waste is key to securing a healthier energy independent future, efficiency reforms are likely to be expensive, hurting the bottom line of power companies and driving up the cost which could cause unrest among a populace already struggling to make ends meet.

Beijing faces further problems with provincial Governments intent on adding to the ranks of cheap coal-fired power stations that whilst highly inefficient, are much cheaper than alternative sources and instantly help alleviate the power shortages plaguing much of the country throughout the year.

Renewable Saviour?

Even if Beijing heeds the warning of seismologists for now, and takes a new tack in its dam building drive, other problems still exist.

On January 1st 2006, China’s Renewable Energy Law came into effect aiming to double the country’s reliance on renewable energy sources by 2020 and thus increasing its hydro usage by up to 15%.

Whilst a noble goal, this would “require the construction of the equivalent of the huge Three Gorges dam project every two years” in order to succeed and as always there’s always the question of whose going to foot the bill.

Other thorns in the feet of government dam advocates include finding the locations to build the mega dams required to generate the huge amounts of power that the country needs.

Though the Chinese province of Tibet is the source of many of Asia’s major rivers, many of those rivers supply millions of people in South/South East Asia who are non too happy at planned developments.

At the site of the world’s deepest gorge on the Bangladesh-India-Chinese border, a mega dam planned at a bend in the Brahmaputra River, is causing intense concerns with the Indian and Bangladeshi Governments and even speculations of war in the Indian media.

If gone ahead with, the 40GW mega dam may ease Chinese energy fears but it will also divert water away from millions of Indian’s and Bangladeshis in some of the regions poorest areas making it an untold catasphrophe in the making.

Further issues with such mega dams come from the sheer volume of factory waste, toxic metals and household rubbish that build up behind dams and affect the purity of the water supply in a society where safety often bows at the knees of bribery.

Over reliance on hydro power may also leave the country overly dependant on regular rainfall with perhaps unexpected results especially in parts that rely to a large extent on the resource. In 2003, severe droughts in China caused stark power outages in parts of the country where dammed reservoirs didn’t have enough water to supply demand at the time. http://www.energybulletin.net/111.html

For now, China’s choice is to keep building big dams, even as the social and environmental impacts of the projects are increasingly questioned.

No-win situation

Expanding deserts, an increasing population and talk of finally lifting the strict ‘One Child’ policy are bound to increase pressure on China’s resources and the Government is unlikely to abandon the potential that hydro power presents for now.

To say the country isn’t making progress in expanding its energy options is untrue and the market place itself may likely play the strongest role in solving China’s energy woes through increased efficiency.

With demand rapidly outsoaring supply the price of primary resources such as coal and oil has skyrocketed and profit margins at many of China’s power companies have halved over the past year through increased costs.

As profits get hit, many power companies may reconsider the waste produced in the power process and raise standards to increase efficiency at all levels of the supply chain.

Whatever China’s eventual course of action, the country faces multiple challenges on the road to energy security and the eventual solution will surely require a measure of compromise and certainly one of restraint and consideration.

There is no easy road to economic prosperity and as the country races forward towards it, shortcuts cannot be relied upon to achieve it and if any lesson can be learnt from the Earthquake, it’s that companies had better listen to the geologists first before that first bucket of concrete is poured.

Everything in nature has balance and for China’s Government this is something they’ll have to consider with care if their Hydro policy is to work out successfully.

By 2025, according to the US Energy Information Administration, foreign supplies will account for a dizzying 77% of China’s total oil consumption.

ENERGY FACTS



Photo credit to the honglingfamily on flickr

© Stephen for Riding for Education, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Read more entries in China, Earthquake, General, Journal.

Now the clamour is for tents, tents and more tents… 3.3 million to be exact. According to today’s China Daily over 400,000 tents have been sent to the earthquake area and by August 10th one million temporary structures have been ordered built.

The boulevards of this city of 870,000 people are now lined with plastic shelters that victims have thrown up by themselves, or with the help of volunteers.

However, China may be the factory of the world but not even this mega production house can produce three million tents over night and international help is desperately needed.

Daily newspapers here report Chinese people falling over themselves to buy tents of all seasons from shops across the country. Shop owners are being mobbed and even policemen have been seen getting in on the act.

Aid needed

In a good will gesture, the UK recently agreed to provide 30,000 tents, but as attention now shifts to China’s 5 million homeless such thoughts are but a drop in the ocean.

Having been involved in the Pakistan earthquake China’s main priority now is securing tents, medicines and experts. Being the world’s factory is all very well in the long term, but in short term, the Chinese people needs our donations.

The Chinese embassy in the UK recently released a list of the most needed items required in the relief effort that UK people can send to the embassy. Such items are crucial to the success of the work of the thousands of aid workers and volunteers toiling day and night to save lives and include protective facial masks, mobile toilets and Immarsat satellite phones.

Though I may not agree with the all-pervading big brother nature of the Chinese Government, in this instance strong leadership is needed and China is not holding back and such aid will certainly make a difference.

Ten days after the Oct 3rd earthquake hit Pakistan in 2005, aid was only just beginning to reach survivors in the most populated areas of Kashmir, and it took literally months afterwards to reach the most isolated villages.

In contrast, China mobilized over 130,000 troops mere days after the quake and is already claiming to have reached all 1044 isolated villages throughout the affected region with aid, supplies and medical care – though the area is much less complicated than the one Pakistan’s aid workers had to work in.

Lessons to be Learnt

Yet China’s toughest challenges now lie ahead in ‘phase 2’ of its recuperation efforts and the country would do well to learn from the mistakes made in Pakistan as well as the successes.

The trouble in Pakistan was that the country had no precedent to act to when the earthquake hit, which lead to an immediate break down of law and order in the donation process and a free-for-all donation drive that led to hoarding and the unfair spread of relief materials amongst the survivors affected.

Invariably the lack of guidance in the relief process led to a incredible range in the quality of the items donated, especially in the tents, equipment and clothing. Tents often couldn’t be erected properly due to missing pieces or shoddy construction leaving yet another family out in the winter cold.

Throughout the initial aid camps to be erected, sanitation was a forgotten issue in the rush to house a never ending stream of earthquake survivors. Camp guidelines provided by UNICEF and UNHCR were ignored in the rush, leading to tents erected too close to one another and tent fires spreading like while fires during meal times.

The government is setting up a 70 billion yuan ($10 billion) fund to pay for reconstruction work, and government departments have been told to cut spending by 5 percent to divert funds for rebuilding

Following its unprecedented success in covering the earthquake, this is the Chinese Government’s chance to avoid such problems through clear leadership, ample compensation and a strict timetable to rebuilding shattered lives that people can look to.

Accommodating millions of earthquake survivors is going to create ‘tent cities’ on an unprecedented scale and China needs to be ready. Hope needs a goal to cling onto and for lives torn asunder, Beijing has an unbridled opportunity to provide and stick to such one.

Challenges to rescuers

Certainly there is not much to tempt them [elderly] in Jiangyou, where tens of thousands of homeless people are living cheek by jowl on sidewalks in cramped and unsanitary shelters rigged up from tarpaulins, with no better idea of their future than those who stayed at home.

On Thursday the official death toll reached 51,151 people with 288, 431 injured after the May 12th quake, setting it on track to surpass the Pakistan earthquake of 2005 which took 73,388 lives.

Typical of mountainous regions affected by earthquake, the dangers to aid workers are still high and seem to be getting worse.

According to the China Daily, 200 aid workers have already been killed by mud slides caused by 7,182 aftershocks since the quake struck on May 12th. Some of the aftershocks have reached as high as 6.1 on the Richter scale.

Highways are being blocked as quickly as they’re opened and as of 21st May, only one highway was open to Wenchuan near the epi-center of the quake as aftershocks caused multiple landslides blocking incoming highways.

With heavy rain predicted over the coming week, the lives of aid workers working in the field is unlikely to get any easier. Yet an even greater challenge may lie in the age of the individuals who survived the quake.

Elderly people form the bulk to the population of the earthquake area as many have been left behind as younger people in the region have left to work in the country’s factories and cities on the Eastern seaboard.

China has over 120 million migrant workers powering its economic growth for incredibly low wages and many of those workers come from Sichuan province at the heart of the earthquake area.

Many elderly survivors stranded high up in mountain villages, face extreme difficulties leaving the ruins of their accumulated life achievements and many simply choose to remain where they also fear loss of property to bandits and thieves. Such survivors will have a difficult time in the cramped conditions of relief camps and many already realize it. Life may become even worse in these camps as migrant workers swell the ranks of the families gathered in them.

Volunteers are Needed

China doesn’t just need money, it needs expert help, materials and equipment (as laid out on the Chinese embassy website). Pakistan also needed these in abundance and the faster the Chinese people receive them, the faster broken lives can be reformed.

Medical teams from Russia, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and the UK are already amongst those already on the ground in the earthquake areas, yet still more are needed.

Doctors, nurses, engineers and anyone with a skill they think they can offer are invaluable at this stage but saying that anyone can still help.

There are several international organizations working in the earthquake relief area and some of the key ones are given below. If you are thinking about volunteering for the earthquake please find an agency to work with before hand as organistaion like MSF are already complaining about ‘free-lance’ volunteers being more of a hindrance than a help.

Final throught…

I was in Urumqi at the time of the Chinese earthquake and though it was felt as far away as Taiwan and Vietnam I felt nothing in Xinijiang. Still the newspapers here are full of information about the quake every day and just as my heart goes out to the victims through these reports I hope yours does too.

Donations Abroad

The Red Cross is most likely the best way to donate money from abroad. CN Reviews.com also has a great comprehensive list of over 30 ways to donate towards the crisis. Here is another good resource at China-crossroads.com including some fairly comprehensive information on how to volunteer.
Q & A from the Chinese Embassy in London
List of Items needed by the Chinese Embassy in London

Donations in China

For expatriates already living in China there’s no shortage of information online about how to donate to the earthquake. Following is a list of alternative ways to donate that should expand over the next few days as I short througth the plethora of ways already mentioned on the internet.

Sichuan Quake Relief - a new organisation formed with the backing of the Beijing Bookworm specifically to handle small projects associated with the rehabilitation process after the May 12th earthquake.

Ways for volunteers to go and help…

Whilst I’ve emailed several organisation about the immediate availability of volunteer work in the earthquake area, I’m still waiting for a response. In the meantime the following organisations seem to definitely offer volunteering opportunities:

Heart to heart (office in chengdu) – With an international office already established in Chengdu before the quake, Heart-to-Heart have become a hub for volunteers seeking to make a difference in the quake area.
Hands on Chengdu - is a new organisation set up specifically to match the right skills you have to offer to the locations where they’re needed the most. Fill out your profile and indicate your availability to give the staff at hands-on the information they need to for you to make the most of your time in the quake area. Currently volunteers are needed in Orphanages, lean-to schools, temporary hospitals etc.. - definitely recommended.
Volunteer Abroad Program - though lacking in details, VAP seem to offer volunteer work in the earthquake area.

You don’t have to be a brain surgeson. If you have a good heart, you can contribute. (china daily- 21st May)

Other organisations you could also try include:

Doctors without Borders
Children’s Hope Point - working now in the Earthquake zone with stranded orphans. Possibly may offer volunteer work in the near future.
Mercy Corps

For those who read Chinese, the contact details for the Chinese Red Cross office in Chengdu is:

成都市红十字会志愿者接待人电话：028-8 807 5017

成都市红十字会工作人员电话：13981935143

成都市红十字会电话：028-86725519 / 66722258

志愿者协调人员(成都本地)电话：131118 89708

From ( www.ieeye.com ) From to: http://www.ieeye.com/post/dizhenbaoming.html

If anyone would like to recommend any more organisations to volunteer through please contact me here.

Thanks to Nick Kozak for the photo used in this post.

© Stephen for Riding for Education, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Read more entries in China, Earthquake, General.

Just a week ago here in China, an Earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked Eastern China to its core flinging wide tremours that were felt as far away as Beijing (1500kms), Taipai (Taiwan) and even Hanoi in Vietnam.

Seizing the opportunity, the Chinese Government unleashed an unprecedented stream of news coverage from the earthquake zone resulting in an outpouring of support from across the Chinese nation.

Yet, whilst one door is cast open, another one remains brutally closed in neighbouring Burma.

Since Tropical Cyclone Nargis ravaged an area the size of Afghanistan in Southern Burma, aid has barely trickled into the South East Asian nation as the Military Junta attempts to control the rehabilitation process thus endangering the lives of millions in the process.

Such delayed aid to the millions of homeless across the country’s south means that the action needed to normally stave off disease and starvation has been critically delayed leaving many survivors in a position no better than immediately after the disaster and crucially similar to the plight of the millions stranded in China at this very time.

Each country needs help now and neither is less deserving. Food, funds and the smallest measure of fortune are slowly finding the people who need them, but it’s never enough and for those whose lives hang in the balance, this post deals with how you can help and what still needs to be done.

Broken Lives in China

We thought maybe a plane crashed or there was an explosion nearby. But then the building heaved. As we hustled down the hallways and down the stairs, the sensation was the same one you get when you take off in an airplane; with that sudden weightlessness and then the dip of the plane. Cement was flying and so was glass. Very fortunately, the building did not crumble down upon us. I can still envision one extremely hard hit and I thought the end was coming. The building rumbled so loud, it seemed to be coming down.

Smashed lives, courageous rescues and monumental suffering dominate the airwaves in China but despite all the clamour, aid is still only trickling into some areas. Since May 12th the strongest earthquake in 32 years has taken an official total of 34,073 people at time of writing, though up to 70,000 (to date) are feared dead and buried.

The quake originally occurred near the town of Wenchuan, in the Chinese province of Sichuan. The area is mountainous, ridden with gorges, and relief efforts have been hampered by landslides and heavy rain. Over 4.9 million homes are claimed destroyed in one of China’s most inaccessible regions. Although over 130,000 troops are currently deployed in the earthquake zone, many have been reduced to battling over muddy mountain trails to reach hopeful survivors.

Colossal landslides of mud and rubble knocked down telephone lines and mobile phone masts and left every road blocked. On the road north from Chengdu, minibuses carrying boxes of aid sat in long tailbacks while the army was stranded 60 miles away.

In the town of Baichuan over 80% of all buildings have been destroyed with the highest death count of upto 5000 deaths. Upstream of the town of Dujiangyan, cracks have appeared in the Zipingpu damn, keeping the army busy and putting 600,000 residents at risk. Questions are also being asked today on why so many schools collapsed during the earthquake - reports state over 7000 classrooms destroyed in the disaster.

It’s important to remember that while we can’t control the destruction of the earthquake, we can help save lives afterwards and infact deaths can and must be prevented. Though foreign rescue teams were allowed into China for the first time on Friday, over 122 aftershocks exceeding 4+ on the Richter scale have already rocked the region sparking dozens of heavy landslides and hampering relief efforts.

There are plenty of ways to donate both inside and outside of China and below are several sources both official and recommended by the blogosphere. At the moment, millions of people are currently in need of blankets, emergency food, tents, drinking water and disinfectant and here are the ways you can help.

Donations Abroad

The Red Cross is most likely the best way to donate money from abroad. CN Reviews.com also has a great comprehensive list of over 30 ways to donate towards the crisis. Here is another good resource at China-crossroads.com including some fairly comprehensive information on how to volunteer.
Q & A from the Chinese Embassy in London
List of Items needed by the Chinese Embassy in London

Donations in China

For expatriates already living in China there’s no shortage of information online about how to donate to the earthquake. Following is a list of alternative ways to donate that should expand over the next few days as I short througth the plethora of ways already mentioned on the internet.

Sichuan Quake Relief - a new organisation formed with the backing of the Beijing Bookworm specifically to handle small projects associated with the rehabilitation process after the May 12th earthquake.

Recommended News and Blogs

Global Voices - Time to Pray - a number of blogs from earthquake survivors and volunteers on the front-line. This article shares an extremely comprehensive overview of earthquake news, blogs and volunteer efforts from across the zone.
China Law Blog - How you can Help
Shanghaiist - Earthquake News 2008
Shanghai Expat - Today I cried - Schuan Earthquake
NPR on location in Chengdu - NPR were filming on location in Western China when the destructive May 12th earthquake changed everything…
China Daily - Government English Paper with Earthquake 2008 Section
Xinhua - China Earthquake 2008

Daily Blogs

Daily Blog from Childrens Hope International volunteering in the Earthquake Area
Blog by Melody Zhang [CHI Director] currently travelling through remote outlying areas to survey the situation of orphans stranded by the May 12 catastrophy.

Washed Away in Burma

Though it happened two weeks earlier, tropical cyclone Nargis has claimed an official total of 78,000 thousand lives in Burma (Myanmar) and the death count continues to mount. Whilst most countries would be now thinking of rebuilding shattered lives, Burma continues to create them.

Since the May 3rd cyclone ravaged an area the size of Afghanistan in the south of the country, the Burmese military Junta’s attempts to handle the crisis “on their own” have only suceeded in exacerbating it.

Seventeen days after the cyclone as many as two million survivors are yet to receive any aid at all.

Almost immediately after the cyclone struck, rescue teams, aid and emergency supplies have all been refused as the military Government plays tough to the world outside. What few journalists have been allowed into the country talk of bodies “rotting in the streets,” starving children mobbing aid trucks and the spectre of death hanging over every remaining doorway.

Winds exceeding 100 mph obliterated thousands of villages consisting of nothing more than bamboo huts and twine. Livestock drowned, roads washed away, lives torn asunder and all their remains is death, suffering and absolutely noone to clear up the mess.

General Than Shwe, the Burmese leader, is so far from reality, he’s been seen handing out boxes of so called ‘Government aid’ with “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand” labelled on the side. The Junta recently claimed that they’d spent over USD 1m on aid to the people of Burma despite the fact that USD 20m in aid has already been raised by the UN.

The government wants total control of the situation, although they can’t provide much and they have no experience in relief efforts.

In contrast with the transparent approach China has taken to the relief effort, many may feel that donating to Burma is a lost cause given the Government’s heavy hand in the area, but this must NOT be the case. Everyday more and more shipments of aid are making it through and into the hands of those who need them, and we can only hope the trickle of aid getting through continues to grow.

Oxfam has recently claimed that up to 1.5 million people are in danger of dying as disease, starvation and despair grip the survivors. Already outbreaks of Cholera and diarrehea have been reported and the situation is unlikely to improve for weeks.

ActionAid International have set up medical camps to cater to 550 villages or 135,000 people and are just one of the many worthy efforts working now and making a difference.

If it’s one thing the Pakistan Earthquake showed me, it’s that fast response saves lives and the window of opportunity for Burma is shrinking rapidly. The country needs countless supplies of medicine, accommodation, rice and clean water and they need them now.

Please don’t count out those in need and donate what you can. Some of the better ways are listed below and the list will certainly expand as I find more reputable sources to place on it.

Donations to Burma

British Red Cross - seemly the most reliable means to donate to the disaster and actively working now in Bruma.
Disasters Emergency Committee - Channelling funds to an umbrella organisation of 13 disaster committees with an active emergency fund for Burma.
UNICEF - With 130 staff working in Burma today, funds donated to UNICEF reach directly the people who need help the most.
ActionAid International - Through local partners in country, ActionAid has already set up an emergency medical hospital to cater to 135,000 survivors.

Photos from the Quake Zone

Above photo courtesy of Flickr.

© Stephen for Riding for Education, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Read more entries in China, Earthquake, General, Journal.

People aren’t dying, freezing or starving for lack of aid or attention. But on the other hand few are happy either. The scale of the damage resulting from the earthquake was so massive that progress remains painfully slow, and as another winter looms, the biggest problem for many is that the end seems far out of sight.

• STATS

• Geographical Area
  
  22,000 sq. Kms
• Specifics
  
  7.6 Richter scale Earthquake
• Deceased
  
  73,388 killed
• Injured
  
  69,412
• Homeless
  
  3.3 million
• Homes Destroyed
  
  600,000
• Cost of reconstruction
  
  $6 billion
• Schools
  
  6000 destroyed
• Teachers
  
  900 killed
• School children
  
  18,000 killed
• Students in tent schools
  
  800,000
• Roads affected (kms)
  
  2393 kms
• Women headed households
  
  26% (average) of total
• Current challenge
  
  Third Winter
• Current phase of ERP
  
  Reconstruction
• Recovery date
  
  Late 2009

Emergency Relief

On 08th October 2005, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale killed 73,888 people in Northern Pakistan. An almost equal number were injured and a further 3.3 million lives were wiped clean in seconds.

The extent of the damage was the uncompromising annihilation of 4000 villages, 600,000 homes and several major towns. Over 8000 schools were levelled; every health centre destroyed; every semblance of industry, workshop and mill wiped out. Millions of livestock, livelihoods and futures were lost to oblivion in an amazingly complex maze of mountain valleys.

For the first six months the Pakistan Government, aid agencies and thousands of volunteers concentrated solely on stabilising survivor’s lives. In the aftermath of a fortunately first mild winter, a huge relief effort began to move several million people out of the squalor of the relief camps and back to their villages in the short time before the next monsoons and winter began.

Overcoming 2743 kms of devastated roads massively slowed down reconstruction efforts, and the cost of transport skyrocketed. Before homes could be rebuilt, materials had to be delivered, water supplies re-established; latrines dug; water pumps bored and fields re-ploughed. Life needs a foundation on which to grow and sustain itself and given the totality of the destruction, it took time to stabilise people’s lives.

Early Recovery

In the days immediately following the quake, the Government established the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (or the unfortunately entitled ERRA) as the central authority in the rehabilitation effort. Big plans were drawn up, but in the typical nature of Pakistani rhetoric, many government promises were made and even fewer were believed.

With the emergency relief phase over in mid-06, ERRA began work on a twelve month Early Recovery Plan (ERP) in collaboration with the UN and numerous aid organisations to ensure a secure transition from relief to recovery and eventual reconstruction. The UN recognised that the enormity of the reconstruction process would take time and that people must be able to live comfortably during the interim.

Beginning in June 2006, the plan was finished earlier this year and focused on eight areas of development including education, health, housing, livelihood training and civic infrastructure. Instead of supervising the entire reconstruction, the UN advised ERRA to give home owners the responsibility and pride of rebuilding their own homes. Whilst the approach had been implemented during the Tsunami (2004), this was first time it had been attempted on such a large scale.

To ensure money was spent correctly, ERRA issued cash grants of up to a total of $3000 in four stages, dependant upon construction progress and compliance with new earthquake proof regulations. Last month, ERRA claimed that 339,048 houses or 65percent were now under construction, 200,000 at the foundation level, and 25,000 with walls erected. The Government aims to have all homes completed by end 2008.

Better than a tent

As a result of the massive effort made by countless organisations, only 7000 people today remain in tents with almost all families living in semi-permanent temporary accommodation. We’ve now moved through two winters and on the whole casualties have been minimal. Tents have been mostly replaced by wooden and corrugated iron shelters and most people have access to heaters and fuel.

With the assistance of international and local aid agencies over 300,000 people have since been trained as masons, carpenters, artisans and in seismic reconstruction techniques. According to some estimates, reconstruction is even happening around five to six times faster than during the 2004 tsunami.

Throughout the ERP, the goal was always to establish a liveable intervening period in which people could live whilst the enormous task of reconstruction got underway. For the average earthquake survivor, almost all have some form of roof over their heads, access to temporary healthcare facilities (thanks in part to the amazing efforts of the International Red Cross) and tent-schools for their kids.

Unstinting efforts by ERRA and partner organisations have ensured that over 20percent of water supply schemes have been repaired and temporary power, telephone and road access exist in many places. Perhaps most outstanding has been the drive to give meaning to people’s lives through training and opportunities, especially to women.

Thanks to these developments, the final stage of reconstruction will now begin at the end of this year and is predicted to last until the end of 2009. The sheer scale of the process is the reconstruction of an entire society from scratch at an estimated cost of $4.3 billion. Schools, health centres, villages, infrastructure, government offices, even entire cities need rebuilding.

Last month, President Musharaff laid the Foundation stone for the $200 million reconstruction of the city of Balakot, 20kms outside of the old town that was destroyed by the quake. The potential to build hope on a past of loss is undeniable and yet still, at the daily level of people’s lives results are far from rosy.

Article: A year of Earthquake Relief in Pakistan with ActionAid

http://www.r4e.org/…/earthquake_relief_in_pakistan_with_actionaid

Reconstruction begins?

To small boys relaxing on a tent in Muzaffarabad shortly after the 2005 Earthquake.

The most common complaint levelled at the Government is that progress is far too slow. To put this in perspective, let’s put you in the earthquake zone for a minute and describe life for a moment.

Due to the destruction of most livestock, crops and arable land, the price of food has sky rocketed in the earthquake area, and you must eat less while your children eat more. Since the quake struck 18 months ago, you’ve received several payments from the government, the last of which was spent building a foundation for a new home and keeping your family fed.

The last time an inspector came around to assess progress was some months ago, and every time you visit the bank, the payment he promised has not been delivered.
Jobs are a pipe dream in the local area. Your husband remains unemployed and the only ray of hope in this uncertainty is the training course you are attending in embroidery and sewing skills at the local community centre for women.

Even should the payment come, you wonder how you’ll manage. The average cost of building a home is around 500,000 Rupees ($8300), and the Government is only giving 150,000 Rupees to residents. Compounding that, material costs are expensive due to short supply and even transporting them here, high up in the valley, would cost almost as much due to the terrible condition of the road.

Every day thousands of people suffer from the problems mentioned above. Slow progress, red tape and high construction costs are just some of the banes of the Government’s DIY approach to rehabilitation. More worrying is the latent level of corruption riddling the recovery. The Dawn reports that some homeowners have paid bribes of up to 10,000Rs to local officials to speed up the transfer of building funds. Other home owners have been evicted for not paying up.

Countering this, ERRA claims to have set up 139 “construction hubs;” throughout the devastated area. The authority asserts to have trained over 50 thousand master trainers, masons and carpenters in addition to giving out a livelihood grant of 18,000 Rupees ($300) to over 250,000 families - enough for at least six months. However discontent still remains.

Today, thousands of people across the Earthquake area have no land to build on and many more have had trouble receiving compensation from the Government. Such people are usually serfs, tenants and people whose land now stands in seismic zones or landslide prone areas. They are the MIA’s of the relief process; jobless and living in tents until the Government relocates them, but many feel abandoned.

ERRA say that separate compensation packages of $1250 funded by USAID have been drawn up for ‘landless’ residents, and payouts began at the end of last month. But the truth here is that given the size and complexity of the disaster, ‘build back better’ will take time and as in all natural disasters, it’s the vulnerable that are affected the most.

The Case for Women

One of the biggest challenges facing aid organisations has been how to help women affected by the quake. The north of Pakistan is a traditionally religious area of the country and the restrictions of women in normal daily life were compounded by the inevitable problems following the disaster.

Women in Pakistan face a cultural straight jacket the moment they’re born. Girls are expected to marry young, sire large families and look after the home and livestock. Most move in with their husband’s family straightaway and are not usually allowed to leave without the presence of their husband due to the Islamic concept of Purdah. Though better in urban areas, women in rural areas are often unaware they have any rights at all, and many suffer accordingly.

Since the disaster struck, an estimated 26percent of all households are now being run by single mothers, left the face the brunt of a male dominated society and the additional burden of raising a family alone. Over 40,000 women were pregnant when the Earthquake struck and today single women face a daily problems accessing clean water, food and the ability to care for their children.

Aid agencies have risen to this challenge by working with communities to encourage equality between the sexes. Gender equality is a major part of ERRA’s development policy and aid agencies are working hard to ensure females share equal access to shelter, food, education and skills training. Agencies like the Red Cross have increased the number of female birth attendants and teachers by involving men in community based discussions so that everybody sees the benefits.

What did Education do to you?

Despite all the advancements made in women’s rights and reconstruction, education has received an incredibly low priority and little or no progress in the recovery process. During the earthquake, 18,000 students were killed as they sat down to class early that Saturday morning. Over 8000 schools were levelled and approximately 900 teachers lost their lives.

Today, 800,000 children of the 1 million or so estimated, attend school in tents, two years after the earthquake. Others are still studying in damaged buildings. According to the ERP, 1500 schools should have been built from 2006-7, yet only 70 have been completed and all by sponsors, not by the Government. UNICEF report that children are dropping out of school at phenomenal rates and this will likely increase as winter closes.

It’s a sad truth that this is only a continuation of a trend in Pakistan where country-wide literacy rates stand at 63percent male and a drastic 36percent female. In some parts of the earthquake area, literacy rates can be as low 3.5percent for men and only 1percent for women.
Villages in mountainous areas like Northern Pakistan have a hard time attracting teachers (especially female), due to their remote location and hostility of religious groups. Many face closure, creating the so-called ‘ghost school’ phenomenon. The greatest problem facing enrollment of children is the lack of schools to enroll in.

The golden opportunity here lies in the concentrated offensive being waged against illiteracy by aid agencies in the region. USAID is currently training 5000 teachers in child centred learning techniques. UNICEF has launched it’s “Welcome back to School” campaign with ERRA to ensure 100percent re-enrollment of all children and today report that 9/10 are back in school alongside 21,000 children never before enrolled. The organisation has also set up hundreds of ‘Child Protection Committees’ across the affected area to keep in school once there.

ERRA’s whole philosophy of Build Back Better revolves around building better schools, educating more children (especially girls), and providing a solid foundation for future economic success. If development continues then this is a likely result, but if schools receive the low priority they get now, then this may never happen. Save the Children have already predicted that school buildings will take 5-7 years to rebuild meaning that some children will never learn in a proper school.

Conclusion: The Grand Experiment

By all accounts the Pakistan Relief Effort has become a “model relief process” to much of the world’s media. Although I wasn’t able to visit the Earthquake zone this year, even the traditionally critical Pakistani media was surprisingly upbeat about the process. There’s an undeniable feeling that the recovery might just work, but only if progress continues as it is.

In many ways, the relief process in Pakistan has become a testing ground for a slew of new techniques the UN wishes to implement in the future. For example, the new “cluster” approach to organising worldwide emergencies and the emphasis in Pakistan of owner-driven recovery and training.

By working closely with the UN from the start, Pakistan has ensured that a steady flow of funds reach where it’s needed from traditionally fickle world donors. Out of the $250 million plus needed for the Early Recovery Plan, almost all was received and ERRA’s next challenge will be to assure that the $4.3 billion needed for reconstruction builds on previous success.

With central authority cemented under the ERRA banner, aid agencies have been able to focus more on their respective areas and highlight potential problems that might arise in the future. Aid agencies have also been able to receive funds directly from donors, increasing transparency and ensuring funds arrive on time.

On the flip side, however, donors have been reluctant to hand over funds for development techniques they know nothing about, such as livelihood training and cash grants for housing. Officials have commented that obtaining funds promised on time has been hard to accomplish, and may partly explain the delays in cash handouts to earthquake survivors.

Final thought

It’s likely to be another year before we know the true extent of the relief process in Pakistan, when houses are built and reconstruction is well underway. The slogan of build back better stands an incredible chance of succeeding but at current rates of progress is unlikely to become reality by 2009. Words are easily spoken but less easily actioned in Pakistan and if the Government doesn’t begin to prioritise key areas like education and health, they stand to lose the momentum and respect they’ve built up so far.

Success today, is success tomorrow for Pakistan. A model relief effort is crucial to the future development of the economy and the Government knows this. The US and Asian Development Bank have already promised huge sums of money to invest in infrastructure and as we move into another cold winter it remains now for Pakistan to show it has the capability to pull that off.

Photo © US Department of Defense, Some Rights Reserved

© Stephen for Riding for Education, 2007. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Read more entries in Earthquake, General.