The coordinating office of the Geneva-based Action by Churches Together (ACT) International response group said it had received quake information from China’s Amity Foundation, the only member of ACT International working extensively in China. Amity reported that communications and transport links were destroyed by the quake, making access to affected areas very difficult.

Amity has deployed staff to Chengdu, 159 kilometres from the quake’s centre. The Amity Foundation, an independent voluntary organization set up by Chinese Christians, said relief efforts would focus on sanitation, medicines, food and water, quilts and temporary shelters.

An Amity staffer arrived in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, five hours after the earthquake, which measured 7.8 on the Richter scale, and which hit south-west China at 2:28 p.m. on 12 May. The Amity officer said he had established contact with local partners and that a disaster relief office would soon be set up in Chengdu.

The Anglican church in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Christian Council gave donations through the Amity Foundation to support the relief work.

The Hebei-based Faith Press, a Catholic news agency in north China, reported that churches were damaged in various dioceses in Sichuan and that churchgoers had to seek other places to attend Sunday Mass.

Catholic Bishop Han Jide of the Pingliang diocese in Gansu province, north-west China, told the news agency on 13 May he was visiting villages when the earthquake began, and he experienced three minutes of severe shaking. The bishop said that soon after, Christians began to pray for the victims and to plan how to assist those affected by the disaster. A Catholic priest from province’s Tianshui diocese said church buildings were ruined and that a boy who lived there was injured.

In the Wanxian diocese of the Chongqing municipality in of south west China, the coadjutor bishop, He Zeqing, said he was taking a short rest when tremors began.

“When I was rising from my bed, I found that the cross near the window was shaking vigorously,” said Bishop He. “I ran along the street along with many other people.” He found one church member with a broken leg trying in vain to run while carrying a child in his arms, Bishop He told the Faith Press agency.

Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic diocese has assigned the local branch of the church’s welfare arm Caritas to raise fund for the earthquake victims. It has instructed parishes to collect donations on 25 May and 1 June, after a similar donation campaign to be held on 18 May, for cyclone victims in Myanmar (Burma).

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]

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Latest figures coming out of China are for over 20,000 dead or wounded in Beichuan County. The epicenter of the earthquake was in Wenchuan county. With a population of around 110,000, over 60,000 are still unaccounted for.

In Du Jiangyan city, a school with over 1000 students collapsed. Only 58 have been found alive, the rest are still missing. Several more school buildings are reported to have collapsed in Wenchuan county. The priority at the moment is to clear roads to the stricken areas, and to provide food and shelter to families who have lost homes.

Both Amity Foundation and Jinde Charities are coordinating an emergency response to the disaster in conjunction with their local church networks, local partners and other Chinese NGOs.

They both have experience working on emergency relief are initially focussing their efforts on the provision of food and water, medicines, sanitation, quilts and temporary shelters for earthquake victims.

They will also offer on-going support as communities try to rebuild their lives after the devastation that has hit them.

With thanks to Caroline Fielder, China director at Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

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A likely death toll of 100,000 could rise to 1.5 million without provision of clean water and sanitation, Oxfam told the BBC and other news agencies today.

The International Rescue Committee said that without a massive delivery of aid, Burma faced “unimaginable tragedy”.

Eight days after Cyclone Nargis struck, the United Nations estimates only a quarter of survivors have received any aid so far.

The military government is still refusing to allow many foreign nationals into Burma to distribute relief.

The blocking of aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma is “utterly unacceptable”, the Prime Minister said this weekend.

The ruling military junta is being urged by Gordon Brown and other world leaders to allow foreign aid workers into the country to help assist the relief effort, but have so far refused. Instead, the regime has indicated that the government would distribute the aid itself.

Speaking on his visit to the South West the PM said: “There are people suffering in Burma, there are children going without food, there are people without shelter.

“It is utterly unacceptable that, when international aid is offered, the regime will try to prevent that getting in.

“I’m determined to work with the rest of the international community to make sure that people in need of help, people who face a long and terrible time ahead because of the loss of their homes, and because there is famine, get all the help they need, and we will be working with the United Nations and other countries to make sure that that happens.”

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The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. The government agreed to let a US cargo plane bring in supplies Monday, but foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.

State-run television continuously ran images of top generals — including the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe — handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies.

One box bore the name of Lt. General Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand.”

“We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then distributing it in their region,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country.

“It is not going to areas where it is most in need,” he declared.

Burmese state media say 23,335 people died and 37,019 are missing from Cyclone Nargis, which submerged entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta. International aid organizations say the death toll could climb to more than 100,000 as conditions worsen.

The United Nations estimates that 1.5 million to 2 million people have been severely affected and has voiced concern about the disposal of bodies.

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This evening, the BBC reported that the military dictatorship in Burma has blocked aid workers and some shipments from entering the country, while others lie unused on the airport tarmac because the military do not have the capacity to distribute them

Yet tens of thousands are in urgent need, and Save the Children say that after six days inadequate response many will die.

The UN today suspended aid flights to Burma after the impounding of food supplies and equipment for survivors of cyclone Nargis.

A spokesperson for the UN’s World Food Programme told journalists and news agencies that flights could not resume until the situation was resolved.

The impounded food aid – including 38 tonnes of high-energy biscuits – was enough to feed 95,000 people, officials claimed.

“We’re going to have to shut down our very small airlift operation until we get guarantees from the authorities,” Tony Banbury, a World Food Programme regional director, said.

He added: “It should be on trucks headed to the victims. You’ve seen the conditions they are in. That food is now sitting on tarmac, doing no good.”

Burma’s military government denied the goods had been seized and called the UN’s complaint “baseless”.

Ye Htut, a spokesman, said the junta took control of the aid to distribute it “without delay by its own labour to the affected areas”.

Burmese foreign ministry officials said earlier today the country would accept supplies from overseas but would control distribution themselves and not allow in foreign workers.

France said it would send a naval ship packed with 1,500 tonnes of aid if it gets approval from authorities. The foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said the aid would be ready for departure over the weekend.

Global church aid efforts are being co-ordinated by the ecumenical Action of Churches Together network.

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Over 4 million people need food immediately, British Methodists point out. Reports from Zimbabwe paint a picture of desperation, with some families cooking leaves they had previously considered poisonous. Although they have found ways of draining them that make them safer, people are still getting sick.

The current crisis has been worsened by Zimbabwe’s growing HIV/AIDS problem, says MRDF, together with inflation levels that are spiralling out of control – currently the highest in the world.

As well as distributing food, the Methodist appeal, through ACT International, will also provide home-based care kits for those looking after people with HIV/AIDS, supplementary vitamins for those with HIV/AIDS and support and counselling for AIDS orphans, who often face malnutrition because of lack of food, illness and stigma. People who have lost their livelihoods will be given small livestock for food and to help generate incomes.

Kirsty Smith, MRDF Director, said: “The crisis in Zimbabwe has left millions of people without the means to feed themselves. By supporting this appeal, we hope to alleviate some of the suffering and give them a way of generating income in the future.”

Donations to MRDF’s appeal for Zimbabwe can be made by debit or credit card on 020 7224 4814, or by cheque, payable to “MRDF (Zimbabwe emergency)”, posted to MRDF, Methodist Church House, 25 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5JR.

UK taxpayers are encouraged to gift aid their donations where possible, adding a value of 28p to every pound they give, at no extra personal cost.

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There was a packed schedule of workshops on issues such as HIV/AIDS, advocacy, sustainable agriculture and financial planning, but most importantly there were also opportunities for delegates to share their own stories, advice and experiences with one another. Those closer to home were able find out the latest news from the Strength to Strength daily blog, available at www.mrdf.org.uk .

Francis Njuakom travelled from Cameroon to attend the conference. He is the director of an MRDF partner organisation that runs social and income-generating clubs for poor and isolated elderly people.

He said beforehand: “It will be such a lovely and enriching experience to have MRDF’s most trusted partners across Africa to come together and share the magic of differences that we are all using in our various organisations to transform lives and communities.”

Margaret Nakato is the co-ordinator of a women’s development project in rural Uganda. She explains why she feels that this conference has been so important: “I believe when there is face to face interaction, people relax and get to know each other better. In the process they share a lot of information about themselves and the work they are doing. Some of this will be unique and provide new insights.”

MRDF Director Kirsty Smith, says: “Good financial management or strategic planning may not sound very glamorous, compared to buying goats or sinking wells, but only well run, financially sound organisations can improve the lives of poor communities in the long term. Training events, like this conference, help ensure that money from our supporters is well managed and that programmes are delivered by well equipped and trained staff. By sharing skills and resources, we can all become stronger.”

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