UNICEF will establish three “Child Friendly Spaces” for Ya’an Earthquake UNICEF HK Ambassadors Mr Wong Kam Po and Miss Sarah Lee Wai-sze cheered for the affected children
2013-04-22
HONG KONG, 22 APRIL 2013 — When there is love, there is hope. The earthquake at Ya’an, southwestern Sichuan province has torn hundreds of families apart. With the help of its local partners, UNICEF frontline staff is now at the disaster-stricken areas to respond to the humanitarian needs of children. Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF HK) fully supports the relief work with its emergency appeal and UNICEF HK Ambassadors, renowned cyclists Mr Wong Kam-po and Miss Sarah Lee Wai-sze also sent their warm regards to the affected regions.
Renowned cyclist Mr Wong Kam-po, UNICEF HK Ambassador showed his compassion to victims in Ya’an, “I wish the emergency relief goes well and I believe there are always miracles. Everyone at the affected areas has my best wishes.” He also wrote messages to cheer the affected people, “When there is love, there is hope. Cheer up Ya’an! You have our full support!”
World Champion cyclist Miss Sarah Lee Wai-sze, UNICEF HK Ambassador also appealed for Ya’an children on UNICEF HK Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/UNICEFHK) despite her recent injury at a competition. She thanked public for the care and promised to take good care of herself and get prepared for the future competition, and asked public to show their care for children, “There are lots of disasters all around the world recently; the one in Sichuan, China caused numerous deaths, injuries and homelessness. We, Hong Kong people should also take part because children there need our help and care. UNICEF is ready to provide relief assistance including the establishment of “Child Friendly Spaces” (CFS), enabling children to recover after the earthquake. I wish everyone could unite together and give a helping hand.”
Last Saturday, the earthquake at Ya’an, southwestern Sichuan province which measured close to seven on the richter scale, killed over 200 people and injured nearly 12,000 people. While 1.5 million people in surrounding counties are suffering from the quake, 120,000 people in Lushan County of Sichuan, the quake's epicenter became homeless and among them 26,000 (over 20 per cent) are children.
To help children recover from stress and depression, local partner has urged for the establishment of three CFS from UNICEF in Lushan county. Meanwhile, UNICEF staff is collaborating with the local government to meet the needs of the affected children.
CFS provides community-based services for affected children and their families, including psychological support, play, recreation, health communication from a professional team of experts on early childhood development and social work. It is a shelter for children, and is equipped with Recreation Kit, Early Childhood Development Kit that offer socio-psychological support for children through recreation and sports. Miss Sarah Lee Wai-sze once learnt about how the Kits can work for children.
After Lushan county was deadly struck during the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, UNICEF established 40 CFS in Sichuan, providing psychological relief for the affected children and families, and some of the CFS are located at the surrounding area of Ya’an.
Ms Irene Chan, Chief Executive of UNICEF HK said, “UNICEF found that almost 90 per cent of children are able to recover with psychosocial services alone provided by CFS, and the remaining 10 per cent can resume to normalcy with more expert medical care as well.” CFS serve as community-based child protection service centres that provide earthquake-affected children and their families access to psychosocial support, basic health information, early childhood development, social work, and non-formal education services.” She added, “UNICEF particularly concerns about children’s needs during emergencies. In coming weeks we will hold a series of fundraising activities in Hong Kong, hoping that we will be able to rush supplies as soon as possible to the affected areas.”
After the emergency appeal launched yesterday, UNICEF HK raised HK$200,000 on the first day. As the accessibility of the disaster-stricken area has been improving, accelerating demand for emergency relief is expected, UNICEF needs continuous support from the public to facilitate its emergency relief.
UNICEF also ensures the effectiveness and proper usage of all the donation, by its stringent financial management tracking system that monitors all income and expenditures at the country level, and delivery of all procured supplies all the way to their delivery points.
Donation for Ya’an earthquake:
Online donation: www.unicef.org.hk/donate
Direct Bank-in: HSBC: 567-354014-001 Bank of China: 012-875-0-0218683 Wing Lung Bank: 020-601-003-76348 Bank of East Asia: 015-260-81-012100
Cheque: Payable to ‘Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF’ (Please send us the cheque with filled donation form (download form) with remark ‘Sichuan’ at the back, and send to ‘Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, 3/F, 60 Blue Pool Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong.’)
PPS: Please use your contact number as the bill number. Press UNICEF merchant code: 6012, and then select bill type 3 “emergency”.
Hotline: 2833 6139
(In the unusual event that donations for Ya’an earthquake exceed the needs, we will direct your gift to disaster or emergency relief actions elsewhere.)