It has been over a month since Henan was hit by severe flooding. Now, reconstruction work is underway across the province and several charitable foundations have joined frontline workers to help with post-disaster relief work.
For villages hit by the flood, the relief work begins with cleaning up the silt in destroyed houses and streets. This work demands laborers, and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) reckons it’s a good idea to hire local villagers and migrant workers who returned home after the flood happened.
Zhu Yicun, head of the foundation’s Department of Disaster Relief and Project Management, thinks hiring local people for reconstruction programs has a positive impact on villages. So far, CFPA has donated 62.4 million yuan ($9.63 million) toward supporting 624 villages, with the aim of getting villagers and returned migrant workers involved in the cleanup.
It is estimated that 4,700 schools in rural Henan were damaged by the flood with some left in complete ruin. Several foundations have been keen to help rebuild damaged schools. On July 27, Beijing ByteDance Charity Foundation in collaboration with China Education Development Foundation launched the “Benefitting School Project” which is part of their 100-million-yuan donation plan, aiming to help repair schools in towns that suffered huge losses.
In addition, ByteDance launched the “Benefitting Children Project” with the China Charity Federation. The project focuses on building after-school activity centers for pupils, teachers and school-based social workers supporting left-behind children. For another program, ByteDance worked together with the One Foundation to develop its “Love Star Supporting Project”, which provides counselling services to parents affected by the disaster.
In August, Cai Chongxin Foundation announced its disaster relief plan to support school reconstruction in disaster-stricken areas of Henan. Through the Henan Education Development Foundation, it has donated 20 million yuan to a few towns in Hebi and Weihui to support the rebuilding and maintenance of classrooms, as well as the construction of new sports facilities. “Sports will help children recover from losses caused by the disaster,” Cai Chongxin, founder of the foundation said. Once the schools return to normal operations, the foundation plans to continue supporting their physical education programs.
The China Red Cross Foundation started their “Infection Control Project” on Aug 19 with teams being sent to Hebi and Xinxiang. So far, volunteers from the organization have conducted over 500 operations to eradicate infectious diseases in areas covering a total of 50 million square meters. Several donations have also been arranged to support local hospitals with ambulances, emergency blood delivery vehicles, Covid testing facilities, medical facilities and new equipment.
