回复: 到目前为止, 对加拿大提出的援助意向, 中国政府没有表态.
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/425156
Chinese communities working together to maximize push for earthquake relief
May 14, 2008 04:30 AM
Jim Wilkes
Staff Reporter
The Greater Toronto Area's Chinese community is rallying to send aid to parts of their homeland devastated by this week's earthquake and continuing aftershocks.
"We were very, very emotional," said Bang Gu Jiang, president of Toronto's Sichuan Association of Canada, named for the province rocked by Monday's earthquake.
"We had to accept the shocking news and we were trying to find out if our families, relatives and friends were sound and safe."
Her organization and others across Greater Toronto have joined forces to create the China Sichuan Earthquake Relief fund to funnel money to the Chinese Red Cross for relief efforts.
Donations can be made to Account 04009072 at Bank of China branches across Canada.
"There is a sense of urgency," Jiang said yesterday after a media conference in Scarborough. "We have to do something now.
"Alone we are not strong enough. We want to help as a community. We join you, or you join us, it doesn't matter. We must work together to maximize the result."
Jiang, who has been in Canada for 20 years, still has family in Sichuan. away from the quake zone. They all escaped injury, she said.
Charles Jiang, a financial adviser in Toronto for 12 years after coming to Canada from Sichuan, said he has been unable to reach his sister in the capital, Chengdu, about 90 kilometres from the quake's centre, since aftershocks rumbled through the area.
"My parents are safe there, but many people here are worried about their families," he said. "We know the death toll keeps climbing up and so many thousands of people are missing."
Ping Pan, executive co-chair of the Toronto-based National Congress of Chinese Canadians, said his homeland "needs the support and sympathy" of the world community.
"When disaster happens, it affects everyone," he said.
Pan said money collected would be designated only to help victims of the earthquake.
Although China is a wealthy nation, the areas damaged are among the poorest in the country.
Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough-Agincourt) said despite China's wealth, countries like Canada must still pitch in.
"At times like this, like in the United States when Katrina struck, the rest of the world community has to come to their aid," he said. "We also have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with China to show that you're not alone, this is a world issue and we're there to help.
"We need the international community to come together."
Karygiannis urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to offer immediate relief to the earthquake-ravaged nation. He said messages of sympathy alone wouldn't help relief efforts as China continues to dig out from the devastating quake.
He said he was "saddened, ashamed that the only thing Mr. Harper was able to do was put out a press release and say, 'Sorry that this happened.'
"Canadians are a generous people and, in times of international disaster, we open our hearts and our wallets to assist people in dire need," Karygiannis said at the Ruby Chinese Restaurant at Woodside Square in Scarborough.
"Canadians are answering the appeals from aid agencies for the victims of this earthquake. Where is our government?"
Karygiannis urged the federal government to:
Commit $10 million immediately for rescue, recovery and relief effort.
Match dollar-for-dollar money raised by Canadian non-governmental organizations for victims of the earthquake.
Expedite family-class sponsorship cases from southwest China already being processed.
Issue visitor visas to immediate family members of Chinese Canadians from the quake zone, so they can join their relatives in Canada.
Karygiannis said the federal government must step up to help.
"Unfortunately, once again, our government is ignoring the people of China," he said. "The rest of the world has responded to this disaster. Canada should do the same."
East Gwillimbury resident Sherry Yang said her family in Chengdu reported only minor damage, such as broken dishes, after the earthquake.
Yang, 54, said her 92-year-old mother was on the 15th floor of the local hospital when the earthquake began.
"There are still more tremors," Yang said yesterday. "It has started to rain and so the local government has brought buses in for older people and children to stay in."
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