A volunteer-involving charity that helps Chinese children brought up in the West to better understand their culture has made an urgent plea to help the survivors of the Sichuan earthquake.
The Mothers' Bridge of Love (MBL), which currently has 15 volunteers, is based in London and China.
MBL was set up by Xinran, a renowned author, and initially set out to support Chinese orphans who are adopted by Western families. It has since developed into an organisation which also supports children in China.
MBL fears that many schoolchildren were among the dead when their school buildings collapsed after the 7.9-magnitude earthquake struck on May 12.
Latest news reports say that up to 70,000 people died in the quake, with 30,000 people still missing.
To help children and orphanages in the disaster area, the charity is appealing for people to make a donation to support the disaster relief efforts.
The money will be sent to schools, mothers and carers through its local volunteers to buy food and help rescue children still underneath the debris.
A charity spokesperson said: "We have spoken to the local authorities and understand that water, clothes, medicine, and food are urgently needed.
"Last year, we donated money to the flood-hit area of Sichuan. A hundred per cent of donations received will once again be sent to Sichuan to provide much needed assistance to children. Our focus will be helping children and women to recover from physical and physiological damage."
The quake, felt as far away as Vietnam, is China's deadliest in more than 30 years and was even stronger than the 7.6-magnitude Pakistan earthquake of 2005 which killed an estimated 75,000 people.
To contact MBL please visit the web link on the right hand side of this article.
