China
Relief Work
EARTHQUAKE 2008
The SimplyHelp Foundation provided disaster relief after an earthquake shook China in 2008. With a magnitude of 7.9 on the Richter scale, it was the largest earthquake to hit China in thirty years.
Statistics (according to government sources):
Death toll: Over 69,000
Missing: Approximately 18,000
Displaced: 15 million, including 5 million homeless
The earthquake hit an area that has been largely neglected by China’s economic rise. Healthcare is poor in the inland areas, such as the Sichuan province, and highlights the widening gap between prosperous urban dwellers and the beggared rural people. The effects of the earthquake were particularly devastating here, so SimplyHelp participated in the recovery process by providing donations, representatives to assist in aid and construction efforts.
Educational Programs
Many children live in extreme poverty in remote areas of mainland China, where they are deprived of opportunities to receive an education. The lack of existing schools in the region led SimplyHelp to establish educational programs in beggared areas of mainland China.
SimplyHelp met with government organization Guangxi Foreign Capital Poverty Reduction Project Management Center. We share the same goals as the GFCPRPMC, and we have agreed to further develop educational programs together, with the help of several local volunteers. The SimplyHelp China branch was officially established in March 2005.