May 15, 2008
Dear Friends,
It’s the end of another busy day here in Sichuan Province. Today was a sad day — not
many survivors have been found in areas devastated by the earthquake. The sheer scale and
loss of this tragedy is hitting people hard.
Because you’ve made a donation to Mercy Corps, I wanted to write and give you an update
of what’s going on here. I’m currently in the city of Chongqing with two Mercy Corps
colleagues. We set up a emergency response center today with our local partner, the China
Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. We’ll be conducting all our relief operations from
there. Crews have started reaching devastated cities, and now is the critical time to
help survivors.
Today, we bought enough water, noodles, milk, crackers and shelter supplies to fill 22
truckloads. Those items are bound for Mianyang, a city about three hours from here that
was absolutely ravaged by the earthquake. At least 7,300 people were killed in that city
alone, and many more are missing. People are sleeping on the streets because they’re
afraid their homes will collapse from aftershocks.
Things are changing so fast. Today I felt that chaos. But your generous donations are
helping rush relief to survivors. You are making a difference.
My colleagues and I will continue to post updates on the situation at
http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake. Thank you again for your support. We couldn’t
do this without you.
Sincerely,
Kate Janis
Senior Program Officer
Mercy Corps
Shuda Li 