Typhoon relief efforts expose loopholes

A Chinese saying goes: "Provide timely help such as coal in winter." Yet a charity has included winter quilts among its supplies to those in need after a hurricane in summer.

No wonder the Red Cross Society of China has received widespread criticism after it sent 3,000 winter quilts to hurricane-stricken areas after Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest typhoon to hit southern China in four decades, wreaked havoc in Hainan and Guangdong provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, leaving tens of thousands of residents desperate for aid.

Responding quickly to the criticism, the charity organization insisted that winter quilts were a necessity in disaster relief efforts because the quilts serve many functions, and senior citizens and toddlers need quilts to keep warm.