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Dear Friends,
No doubt you have heard about the huge earthquake that struck a remote area of Qinghai Province, northwest China, last Wednesday.
The damage is centered on the town of Yushu, home to 85,000 people (see picture taken before the quake). More than 90% of the buildings in Yushu have collapsed. The latest reports from China have the death toll at almost 2,000, with many people still missing. The area has experienced more than 1,200 aftershocks in the last five days.
It is hard to imagine a more difficult and remote location for such a disaster to strike. Many of the villages that have been devastated lie at high altitude, and temperatures are below freezing at night. Some of the Chinese soldiers that were sent to help in Yushu have suffered from potentially-fatal altitude sickness. This part of China is home to the Northern Khampa Tibetan people. Most of them lead nomadic lives, herding sheep, yaks and goats on the plateau. In the past we have written about this unreached group in our prayer books. Here is a link to one of our profiles on the Northern Khampa people: http://asiaharvest.org/pages/profiles/china/chinaPeoples/K/Khampa,%20Northern%20(B).pdf
Within hours of the earthquake striking, a team of Chinese and a few foreign Christians travelled to the disaster zone to help. Most of these believers were involved with the earthquake relief efforts in Sichuan Province in 2008. The combination of their loving help and bold witness for Jesus Christ saw thousands of people in Sichuan come to faith in the living God.
In Yushu they have initially provided blankets and warm coats to the people, and now they have put together 500 emergency aid kits to help the worst-affected families. The kits include:
1 Solar panel and battery lighting system and USB charger (pictured below)
1 USB heated blanket
10 pound (5kg) bag of rice
1 liter of cooking oil
1 First aid kit with guaze, medicine, and bandages
1 cooking pan
Each kit costs $100 for the items and delivery into the hands of the most needy families in Yushu Prefecture.
If you would like to help with the urgent need to provide emergency aid kits your donation would be greatly appreciated. You can do so either by donating by credit card to the Asia Disaster Relief fund on our secure website: http://asiaharvest.org/pages/projects.html, via Paypal (our address is [email protected]) or by sending a gift by post, with a note that it is for the Asia Disaster Relief fund, to any of the Asia Harvest addresses listed at the bottom of this message.
If you are familiar with our work you will know that 100% of gifts to the Asia Disaster Relief fund will go directly to the need. Not a cent will be deducted for administration or any other expense. We cover such expenses ourselves as it is the least we can do during such a time of need. All donations in the United States are tax-deductible.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us at this email address. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think would be interested in praying or helping. Please pray for the Northern Khampa and all people affected by this earthquake. Pray the Lord Jesus will be lifted up in this needy area, so many people will gain help not only physically but also spiritually.
For the Lord of the Harvest,
Paul Hattaway
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