In the weeks following the 5.12 earthquake resulted in perhaps the largest groundswell of donations ever witnessed. We were all working the phone trying to get the right goods into the hands of those who needed it, and one of the things that became clear early on was that the amount of money and goods donated that could be effectively put to use was less than was being given.

During this time, the frenzy of donations at times was overwheleming as authorities did spot assessments, messages were often mixed, and donors were acting on sometimes inconsiscent/ spotty information when looking to place there goods.

for those of is on the ground, or supporting the operations from the coast, it was clear though that the swell was too big and that as quickly as NGOs announced they “needed” something, their need was filled.

Clothing and toys were perhaps the most popular items right away, and as Clothes for China quake victims go unwanted shows, clothing donated far outstripped the needs of those affected… or at least far outstripped the ability of agencies to effectively distribute the clothing.

“Just a week after the quake, we told people to stop sending us secondhand clothes, but they kept on coming,” the China Daily quoted Zhao Linjiang, the head of the central donation depot in Chengdu as saying.

“People would just dump them on the ground and leave. We received as many clothes in the three months after the quake as we had in the past three years.”

“Once our warehouses were full, we had to rent a badminton court just to store them,” the China Daily quoted Li Huarong, a civil affairs official in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, as saying.

When speaking to donors recently, who still wanted to donate clothing and toys by the container load, we still found a need to temper their enthusiasm.

and it is important going forward that we continue doing this as:

The other 500,000 pieces of clothes would be recycled for use in mattresses and mops, according to Zhao.

One of the early questions after the quake was where the billions of dollars raised would go, and would the money spent be spent in the right way.  Discussions on rescue vs. relief were taking place, and no matter what the discussion focus was, it was clear that a long term approach was going to be needed.

Chinese gov’t to offer subsidies to students from quake zone highlights of the most recent initiatives to support families who were affected, and relieve some of the short term burdens that are surely on the mind of many in the area.

A joint circular approved by the State Council on Friday said the aid was targeted at poor students from high schools (including secondary vocational schools and ordinary high schools) and universities (including general universities and higher vocational colleges) in the May 12 quake zone covering Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces and 51 counties, cities and districts in Chongqing Municipality.

Where I particularly like this program, as it is being reported, is simply that many families were already struggling with these fees and were having to make tough decisions to ensure their children were able to get a proper education.