On Saturday September 26, 2009, a fierce storm hit the Philippines. The typhoon, known locally as Ondoy and internationally as Ketsana, brought strong wind and heavy rainfall that eventually caused major damage to the country, particularly to Manila, the capital city.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of calamity for almost the entire region. Several areas were affected by heavy flooding, with surges as high as 6 metres sweeping up everything in their path. 240 deaths were reported as of September 28, 2009, and countless people are still missing. News reports for the past days have shown people clambering to the roofs of their homes in a desperate attempt to escape the floods, the clothes on their backs the only things they were able to salvage. To say that this has caused major damage to person and property would be an understatement, given the major losses the country has suffered.

While there have been rescue missions and outreach programs to help the victims, most victims of this storm are still in need of aid. Here is where you can help. Listed below is web link to World Vision that delivers badly needed aid to the victims of typhoon Ketsana. Even the smallest contribution will help to provide relief to the needy, so please consider giving.

Thank you.

World Vision – Emergency Relief
http://www.worldvision.org.hk/eng/form/donation.html

On 12 May 2008, Wenchuan County in the Chinese province of Sichuan experienced one of the most violent earthquakes in history. With an epicentre located 90 Km from Chengdu and registering a 7.9 on the moment magnitude scale (roughly equal to the old Richter scale), buildings swayed in Shanghai and Beijing and the tremors were felt as far away as Thailand and Pakistan, thousands of kilometres distant. Imagine what happened at the epicentre.

At the time of writing the official death toll reported by Xinhua, the Chinese news agency, is well over 15,000 and rising. Thousands of people remain trapped in rubble - nearly 20,000 of them in Mianyang alone. Entire communities have been obliterated. As with other natural disasters, the initial cataclysmic event is only the beginning, and rescue workers must now fight against time and the elements in order to search for the missing, provide care and shelter for the injured, and stave off disease among the survivors.

Roads in Wenchuan County have been damaged, blocked, or destroyed, slowing relief efforts and in some cases preventing them entirely. Heavy rain and landslides also hamper the progress of rescuers. Thankfully, the danger from aftershocks is minimal, but it’s worth remembering that a previous earthquake of comparable energy in China, the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, caused the death of nearly a quarter of a million people (much more than that, depending on the statistics you use). Many of those victims were not killed during the earthquake, but instead died in the following days.

We can all help by donating to relief efforts, both as individuals and as companies. Remember, every little bit helps, especially when many tens of thousands of lives are at stake in the next few days. Outblaze donates to the Red Cross but all accredited relief agencies need your help now. Please donate and help to mitigate the effects of this natural disaster.

Some donation links

• Red Cross
• Red Cross Hong Kong donation page
• WorldVision
• China Digital Times provides information on donating directly to the Red Cross Society of China (the Red Cross China web site appears to be unavailable but you can donate using the information in the article)
• Give2Asia

Information

Red Cross Disaster Management updates

Information on how to donate was provided by Rebecca McKinnon, who has also set up a ‘chinaquake’ Pledge Fund - please join it.

The photograph in this post was found on the EastSouthWestNorth blog. These images provide an idea of the horror and suffering caused by this earthquake and are extremely disturbing.

Wikipedia page on the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.

BBC tag for the latest news on China Earthquake.

Regulars readers of this blog already know that Outblaze assists FON in Hong Kong specifically, and in Asia generally. FON offers a great deal: buy a FON router and set it up on your Internet connection, and it will create a secure WiFi hotspot, sharing a portion of your bandwidth with registered FON members passing through the area. In return, you get free access to FON hotspots all over the world - over 300,000 of them!

As reported on the local FON blog, Continental Diamond Plaza in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, is now the world’s first fully FON-enabled high-rise building. Continental Diamond Plaza has 29 floors, and is home to many restaurants and bars in the heart of the city. You will find FON_FreeWiFi signals at every floor, bringing FON yet one another step closer to covering the entire planet with WiFi Everywhere! Congratulations to the FON team for making this little piece of history!

We would also like to extend our congratulations to FON Hong Kong for earning the Caring Company Logo 2007-2008 for efforts to give back to the community. FON Hong Kong’s operation and charitable activities, donations, and initiatives qualified the company for six out of six Caring Company criteria.

A team of 14 intrepid Outblaze members took part in the ORBIS-BUPA Moonwalkers (Chinese version here) charity event on the night of November 17, 2007, braving chilly temperatures to aid the preventably blind. Starting at the Wanchai Sports Ground and ending at Repulse Bay Beach, participants walked 20 kilometres from dusk to dawn, finishing at approximately 6 AM the next day.

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