From Special, page 6, issue no. 369, May 26, 2008
Translated by Liu Peng
Original article: [Chinese]
As aid donations for quake-hit areas in China climb into tens of billions of yuan, public concern over how the funds will be used has intensified.
As of noon May 26, donations raised through organizations in affiliation with the Chinese Civil Affairs Ministry totaled 30.9 billion yuan.
The Ministry had last week in a press conference stressed that the funds would be strictly monitored to ensure proper usage, meeting the needs of quake victims and eventual reconstruction efforts for areas affected by the 8-magnitude earthquake that hit Sichuan on May 12.
Funds Distribution
The major forces behind the donation drive are all official or semi-official organizations, including the Red Cross Society of China, China Charity Federation, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, and China Youth Development Foundation.
The EO learned that donations would be spent in phases according to needs. During the first phase, funds were mainly spent on emergency rescue and relief, relocating affected victims and meeting their daily needs.
China Charity Federation (CCF) secretary Liu Guolin said: "Our priority is to purchase tents and tarpaulin houses for sheltering quake victims."
Liu added the Federation had deployed facilitators to quake areas to liaise with local governmental agencies and charity branches, and thus could send back accurate information on relief materials most needed in the disaster-hit zone.
The China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) secretary Wang Xingzui said as donations came both in cash and in kind, some of the materials collected were not the most needed at the moment but could come in handy in the future. Thus, the collection must be dispersed in stages according to the situation on the ground.
The second phase of relief would be the long-term post-disaster rehabilitation, and that required active participation from charity organizations.
"We usually go for long-term projects, such as building safe and permanent housing for the needy. After we have finalized the project funding, we will ask the local charity branches to send us a post-disaster reconstruction plan and review it. If the plan is approved, we will appropriate the corresponding funds," said Wang.
For CCF, some of the donors had specified the usage for their contributions, such as for food distribution or school projects.
"For targeted donations, we have signed a contract with the donor concern and will use the fund strictly in line with the contract. As for non-targeted donations, we will come up with a detailed spending plan," said Liu.
As for the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC), which has the widest coverage for the donation drive, its activities in the relief works include coordinating with the Civil Affairs Ministry, engaging in relocation of affected victims, inviting foreign medical teams to disaster areas.
"Different from RCSC, we are engaged in helping affected children and youth, providing financial supports to the Hope Schools (schools for poverty-stricken areas) in quake-hit areas," said Yang Xiaoyu, secretary of the China Youth Development Foundation.
Donations Supervision
Red Cross Society of China |
China Charity Federation |
China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation |
China Youth Development Foundation | ||
Donation Raised (Yuan) |
7.655 billion (May 24) |
836 million |
256.7398 million (May 26) |
87 million (May21) | |
Management Fees |
None |
Yes |
10% |
Unavailable | |
Funds Distribution |
Buy relief materials, build houses, schools and clinics, recruit & deploy relief workers |
For emergency relief, support tents and medicines |
Build schools, transitional homes; buy and transport food medicines, tents and clothes |
Support educational needs build temporary classrooms | |
Supervision Mechanism |
Accounts checked by National Audit Office yearly |
Donation details published on its official website daily; accounts check by National Audit Office and professional auditors |
Publishes list of inventories distributed; plans to hire professional auditors |
Publish donor list on its official website; its account will be made public once cleared by the Civil Affairs Ministry |