The day after a deadly earthquake devastated central China, local Chinese-Americans put their grief aside and banded together to help in the relief effort.
Halted by crumbled roadways, knocked-down phone lines and looming weather conditions, volunteers are struggling, said Jeannette Dai-Wang, 33, coordinator of the Institute for Global Chinese Affairs at the University of Maryland in College Park.
“Some people want to send rice and clothes, but no one knows where to send it right now,” Dai-Wang said.
“Everyone wants to get there and help, but all we have is where to wire money, so we need more information from the Chinese government.”
Dai-Wang is originally from the Sichuan province, where the magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck just before 2:30 p.m. Monday. After frantically calling her family members in China, Dai-Wang reached them on a cellphone and learned they were not injured.
Her family said everyone was watching the news and waiting Tuesday as the death toll neared 12,000 and tens of thousands were still missing.
The University of Maryland has more than 1,000 students from China, but Dai-Wang had not yet heard yet from anyone who suffered a personal loss.
She said the Chinese Student Association is planning fundraising efforts and simplifying the donation process because students are busy with final exams.
The university also is offering assistance to several Chinese universities, including the University of Sichuan, which is the largest in the province.
Many Maryland universities and businesses have operations and partners in China, but most are concentrated in the eastern coastal provinces more than 800 miles east of the earthquake area.
Clay Hickson, director of the Global Business Incubator at Towson University and chairman emeritus of the Maryland-China Business Council, said the council?s 120 members were being encouraged to make donations to organizations helping out with Chinese relief efforts.
The earthquake was the worst to hit China in three decades.
“I was shocked, and at the same time I feel sad to see this tragedy,” said Yeqing Li, who is president of the China Society, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., that aims to improve relations with China.
Li said the China Society?s 2,000 members would hold meetings this week to discuss relief efforts.
“I?m inspired by the people who are really working together to deal with the issue in a positive way,” Li said.
Staff Writer Len Lazarick and The Associate Press contributed to this story.
