· May, 2008

Stories about Humanitarian Response from May, 2008

Myanmar: U.N. leader speech

  24 May 2008

Ashin Mettacara posts the speech delivered by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who visited Yangon, Myanmar this week. Excerpt of the speech: “I saw the saddest things: homes and villages destroyed, fields flooded, roads and bridges washed away, so many lives lost. We work hard in our lives, for ourselves and...

The Victimization of Egyptian Women and Children

Fantasia's World raises crucial issues that hold back the Egyptian society all together; namely women's rights, violence against women and children, and the general misconceptions of male-female relationships in the Egyptian society and in the Arab world. Marwa Rakha zooms into a new post which discusses how Egyptian women and children are being victimized by traditions, law, and the Muslim Brothers.

Korea: Saving One Life

  23 May 2008

A netizen shares a cute story that happened on a usual day for him. Helping others might not be so hard. …안녕하세요.. 저는 20대 직장인 남자입니다^^! 다른게 아니라 어제 밤 11시 30분쯤에 있었던일을 이야기할려합니다… 뚜뚜~~뚜뚜~~뚜우우~ 7시다 퇴근하자 칼퇴근.. ㅁㅅㅁ 퇴근을 마치고.. 요즘 똥배가 조금나와서 8시부터 항상 운동을합니다.. 이 한강근처라.. 한강에서...

China: What the Olympics Will Look Like

  23 May 2008

Xueyong wonders what the Beijing Olympics will look like after the disaster as people are still in the mourning mood. He suggests that the government should not take the lead in framing the Olympics but leave space for the people to express their emotions and feelings[zh].

South Africa: Bloggers, let's do something

  21 May 2008

Mike calls on South African bloggers to do something about the violent attacks against foreigners: “It’s on that note that I’d like to encourage you, my fellow bloggers and business people, to join me in doing something about it. We know we have the collective influence to make a big...

China: Volunteer Force

  21 May 2008

A hug number of volunteers rushed to Sichuan to help the earthquake victim. Zhai Minglei is one of them, he pointed out that civic force, even though they don't have legal status due to government policy, has contributed a lot in the relief work [zh], but the CCTV camera only...

China: Letter to Earthquake Child Victim

  21 May 2008

1KG.org launched an action to collect letters and deliver them to Sichuan earthquake child Victims [zh]. The organizer hope that the letter senders would continue to communicate with the children and give them love and care.

China: Donation Guideline

  20 May 2008

Unicorn criticized the donation guideline within collective owned work unit (or danwei). The guideline is to ensure that one cannot donate more than their superiors.

China: Thank You to Japanese Rescue Team

  20 May 2008

Zhang Hui, from china-week, compared the attitude of Chinese and Japanese rescue team in the earthquake relief work. The blogger expressed his thankfulness to Japanese friends for bringing a new humanitarian practice to China[zh]. A recent Xinhua photos showed how Japanese rescue team mourned for the deaths when bodies were...

China: Be Humble

  20 May 2008

In reflection upon the earthquake, Huyong said that Chinese people should learn to be more humble and fearful of the nature in its developmental model [zh].

Myanmar: Through the eyes of a mission worker

  20 May 2008

The Obnoxious 5xmom uploads an email of a mission worker in Myanmar: “It is a sad sight. Nature unleashed an orgy of death and mayhem, wounding an already suffering population. Yesterday, with tears in their eyes, women explained how the waves snatched their babes from their bosoms. A mighty tidal...

Myanmar: Situation in Laputta

  20 May 2008

ko-htike received an email from a friend who had seen the situation in Laputta, Myanmar: “More than ten thousands victims are staying, sleeping on the wet ground under the miserable roofs in the camps of the monasteries and pagodas; and some victims are staying outside in the rain. They have...

Myanmar: Report from Yangon

  20 May 2008

New Mandala received a report from a correspondent based in Yangon, Myanmar. An excerpt of the account: “The stories from the night of the cyclone that the villagers shared with me were gruesome. I was told how streets were turned into rivers through torrential rainfall and storm surges of over...

China: Red Cross China Questioned

  19 May 2008

China Red Cross refused to give public account to 163.com ‘s donation to Sichuan earthquake (about RMB1.8 million, about USD 0.2 million). The portal website made a public announcement yesterday that they would stop the cooperation with Red Cross China and many netizens criticized Red Cross China’ bureaucratic attitude in...

China and Taiwan: Cement Board Partition

  19 May 2008

In the Sichuan earthquake, many new school buildings had fallen apart. Thousands of school kids lost their lives. Hsueh, a taiwanese blogger, explained in details, the danger of cement board partition in modern construction [zh].