In the beginning of 2008, south part of China has been covered by non-stop snowing. With Chinese New Year approaching, people are eager to go home. At 6:00 am of February 1st, the Central Meteorology Station issued another orange warning of blizzard. Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Sichuan, and Yunnan will be facing another sever snowstorm or freezing rain attack. China has been surrounded by snow. .

Same as all other Chinese overseas, OSCCF has been watching closely on the disaster. And our domestic volunteers have started on relief activities..

Among disaster areas, Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei, the three most damaged areas, so far receive less aids. Little information is known about Guizhou due to the lack of water and utilities. However, through internet and our local volunteers, we know that the situation in Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei is not optimistic. The thick layers of ice on freeways have lead to many car accidents. In Hunan, the traffic along much of the Jingzhu Freeway was paralyzed. Many children have had no food or thick clothing for a few days. The cold penetrates thru your bones. Many infants have been stuck on the road with their parents. They have no more diapers or formula. Some babies have colds or frostbites. In the bus and train stations of Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei, mothers alone try to take care of their children and luggage. Children sit on cold and damp floors. Some children fainted or were stepped upon during pushing and stampede. Snow damage in Guizhou is very serious. Mountain houses fell down, supplies in town will be exhausted soon, and children have no clothes to keep them warm.

Children in the snow disaster are the focus of rescue for OSCCF. Our volunteers in Guizhou, Hunan, and Hubei are working hard to send relief supplies such as thick clothes, medications, and food to children stuck on the road and in disaster areas. At the same time, we cooperate with other fine domestic charitable organizations. The rescue is in process.

However, our resource is limited. We anticipate you reach out, contribute with love, and help children be away from the disaster. Now is December 26 on Chinese Lunar calendar, i.e. 4 days before Chinese New Year. More snow storms are coming. Any tiny aid can help reduce a child’s pain. We will use your contribution towards clothes, water-proof pads, food, and medications, and send it to children in disaster area with the fastest speed. If you are willing to join our rescue, you can make a contribution for the children in disaster area at  http://www.osccf.org/donate.aspx . If you have any questions, please contact us directly. Thank you for your attention..

On February 3, 2008, Guizhou local volunteers had successfully released the first batch of relief supplies to people in need. The money for buying the relief supplies is contributed by our domestic cooperative organization in China, Yaolan.com. It did not include OSCCF’s contributions.

Our short term plans with the overseas donations in the coming two days are:

(1) Tomorrow, February 5th, one of our volunteers will go with Guizhou Television out to the front line of disaster relief (the worst snow storm affected areas). The release of aiding supplies will be random. We will try to bring as much supplies as possible and release it to snow storm affected households. We can not guarantee that the supplies will all be released to children. As some people have said, as long as it helps people, it doesn’t matter if they’re children or adults.

(2) Another group of volunteers will go on February 5th, as well, to a town 10 kilometers from Guiyang to release aiding supplies for newborns. However, the plan might be postponed due to the weather forecast of freezing rain on the night of February 4th.

We'll keep in touch with local volunteers in Guizhou to adjust our rescue plan according to the change of weather.