Beginning January 10, the snowfall and icy rain, the most in 50 years in many areas have been sweeping in the central, eastern and southwestern parts of China. By Jan. 29, snow-related disasters had killed more than 40 people. A total of 17 provinces and municipalities, including Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Shannxi, Jiangsu and Guangxi have been affected by the snow, ice, rain and frost.

• 77,862,000 people have been affected
• 1.6 million people have been evacuated
• 149,000 houses collapsed
• 602,000 houses damaged
• 6.7 million hectares of crops damaged and a direct economic loss of 32.67 billion Yuan ($4.5 billion)
• Highways, roads and airports have been closed, leaving more than 800,000 people tarry in bus station, train station, airport, highway,
• The snow has deteriorated the shortage of electricity and coal, and constrained electricity supply in 17 provinces
• Several dynamotors that would have produced a total of 39.9 million kilowatts of electricity, 7% of the total volume of firepower dynamotors, were forced to power off.

Global Ministries Partners The Amity Foundation and ACT (Action by Churches Together) are responding to the disaster. One Great Hour of Sharing and  Week of Compassion have contributed to the ACT response and will continue to channel donations for the recovery effort.

Amity Foundation reports the following Goals and Objectives for the assistance they are providing and for which they are seeking support from ACT:

Goal:

To alleviate the suffering of about 5,000 families rendered homeless and severely affected by the snowstorms, in the selected cities, and help them to return to a normal life at the earliest possible.

To help people not only meet their emergency needs, but also focus on their production rehabilitation, which can enhance victims self-rescue capacity after disaster, and can develop by themselves then.

Objectives:

• To provide 15 kilos of rice per person to 5,000 individuals
• To provide one quilt per family, targeting 5,000 families
• To provided two sheep per family for 400households
• To help rebuild 400 animal pens, for 400 families
• To help rebuild 400 houses, for 400 families
• To help rebuild 400 green houses, for 400 families
• To help rebuild 3 school buildings
• To help repair 3 clinics or hospitals
• To help rebuild 2 drinking water systems

The implementation of this recovery program is expected to take one year. 

Please send your donations toward the recovery effort for this Snowstorm Disaster in China to:

 One Great Hour of Sharing
 Week of Compassion