CHINA:The Bookworm cafe, beloved of expatriates, is doing its bit to help Chinese quake victims, writes Clifford Coonanin Chengdu
WHEN THE logistics firm DHL offered to take boxes of relief supplies gathered in the Beijing branch of the Bookworm cafe to the its outlet in Chengdu, no one expected a shipment of 3.8 tons of clothes, food and medicines for the quake-hit region.
But the reaction in China to the disaster has been staggering, both among Chinese and among expatriates living here.
More than 74,000 are dead or missing in the Sichuan earthquake, but the focus now has turned to the relief effort and making sure that those still alive, including five million homeless people, are looked after.
A group of Chengdu-based expatriates have come together and are working out of the Bookworm cafe to assist the relief operation following the Sichuan earthquake. Collections at branches of the Bookworm, an expatriate mainstay in China started by Briton Alexandra Pearson, have yielded a significant largesse - 3.8 tons in Beijing, 3.5 tons in Suzhou, six tons in Chengdu.
The blankets, tents, dried food, water and hygiene products have been moved quickly to the areas hardest hit and to remote areas that aid agencies have not yet been able to reach fully.
The process has been overseen by Dubliner Peter Goff, who set up the Bookworm in Chengdu 18 months ago.
"We had boxes of ties and golf shoes, but mostly it's been very useful stuff. We are spending at least €20,000 a day, sometimes €50,000, on things like bedding, clothes and blankets. And tents," said Goff.
"We try to fill a few gaps that local authorities can't reach, at a micro level. We all work here, all of us are involved at a local level. We can complement services using local intelligence," he said. There are about 60 people involved in the project, 30 expatriates and the rest Chinese.
The Bookworm team is working with local authorities, the Red Cross and other NGOs on the ground, including Heart to Heart, which is sending doctors into the worst affected areas to offer basic medical care.
I watched Heart to Heart help people in the badly affected town of Beichuan last week and their work was impressive.
Tents are in big demand - the country needs three million to house those left homeless. The entire earthquake region is full of tent cities.
"We have trucks that trail their crews loaded with tents, we're getting in good quality 10-men tents for about €75 each, with toiletries/hygiene products, water purifiers and basic cooking equipment/food supplies, mostly," said Goff.
This crisis has seen an unprecedented amount of foreign input, even though China usually insists on dealing with its own crises. This time the aid response has included teams from Japan, Russia and Singapore.
And foreign aid has been welcomed - the Irish Government's donation of €1 million was warmly received and referred to by numerous interviewees during the past few days.
However, it is the Chinese government's reaction that has done so much to alleviate suffering following the quake.
"The reaction of the government has been very impressive. And I'm inspired by the community reaction.
"In some ways you could think China doesn't have a strong civil society but with this earthquake the whole country mobilised, from children to corporations to old grannies, and that's the positive to take out of this situation," said Goff, who was in one of the Bookworm's two Suzhou branches when he heard about the quake on May 12th.
He immediately tried to get in touch with his friends.
"My immediate reaction was one of terror for my friends followed by relief that everyone was okay," said Goff, who is from Stillorgan and was a journalist in China before he moved into business.
Before the quake, Chengdu was a popular backpacker city, a place where young expats would hang out for a while before heading up to local beauty spots in Sichuan, including places now synonymous with the disaster, such as Dujiangyan or Wolong.
Many of the backpackers would pitch up at the Bookworm to read books on China and take a break from spicy Sichuan food. Chengdu's expatriate workers are also fond of hanging out there.