May 13, 2008 7:00 pm US/Eastern
NYC Chinese Open Hearts, Wallets For Quake Victims
NEW YORK (AP) ―
Chinese-Americans in New York have donated thousands of dollars to help victims of the devastating earthquake that struck central China's Sichuan province, community leaders said Tuesday.
Justin Yu, president of the New York Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, said the association put out an appeal Monday and received $9,500.
Yu said the association was delivering fund-raising letters Tuesday to the more than 60 member groups that it comprises. "We're hoping to raise $50,000 to $100,000," he said.
City Councilman John Liu, who represents a Queens district with a large Chinese population, held a news conference Monday to urge New Yorkers to donate to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.
"Between the Myanmar cyclone earlier this month and the earthquake today in Sichuan, the Asian community in New York has been heavily impacted," Liu said. "Communications are not yet fully up in the heaviest hit areas in Sichuan, but it's heartening to know that New Yorkers are stepping up with expressions of sympathy and offers of aid relief."
China's official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of Monday's massive, 7.9-magnitude quake.
The numbers of casualties was expected to rise due to the remoteness of the areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.
"We're asking people to pray for these victims," said Yuru Chou,
secretary of the local chapter of the Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation in Flushing, Queens.
Chou said the foundation put out a call for donations on Monday, and people were coming by Tuesday to drop off checks.
"Our philosophy is, whatever you do will help," she said. "To us, $5 is the same as $5,000. It really is the act of love that we are promoting."
New York City has a Chinese population of about 450,000 concentrated in three hubs: lower Manhattan's long-established Chinatown and newer Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg offered his sympathies Monday to the quake victims and to Chinese-Americans.
"To them, and to the people of China, we express the hope that you can soon 'change your tears into strength' -- Hua Bei Fen Wei Li Liang," Bloomberg said.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
WCBSTV.com's Most Popular Pages
