Quake donations from Taiwan head for mainland

TAIPEI - Taiwan's Red Cross organization and volunteers in Taipei have started to load the island's donations to the mainland's quake-hit Sichuan province for shipment.

Relief donations, including 5,000 blankets and 500 tents and other materials from Taichung, Taoyuan and Miaoli, were gathered at the island's Taoyuan Airport on Saturday morning, and will be divided into two batches for transportation.

Taiwan-based China Airlines will carry the two batches of goods to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, on Sunday and April 30.

Staff members from the Taiwan Red Cross will accompany and help local Red Cross workers in the city of Ya'an, where the epicenter of Lushan county is located, in distributing these goods, according to Lisa Hsu, an official in charge of communications for Taiwan's Red Cross organization.

They will choose some villages in Ya'an's Tianquan county, which was seriously affected by the 7.0-magnitude quake on April 20, to give out the materials, and will make sure the donations are available to every villager, Hsu said.

To reduce shipment costs, the island's charity will also purchase additional goods on the mainland as donations, the official added.

A team from the Taiwan Red Cross reached the quake zone earlier this week to assess relief needs, and, based on the team's report, the organization decided to send blankets and tents as donations, Hsu said.