On 15^th September 2010, in De Sheng Middle School of De Sheng Township, Li Chuan County of Jiangxi Province, the Distribution Ceremony on Relief Goods was held by Li Chuan County Civil Bureau. In the relief project, Plan China donated relief goods worth RMB 860,000 to Li Chuan County. Mark Leighton, the Country Director of Plan China, Zhou Zhaofang, the Vice Secretary-general of Jiang Xi Charity Federation, Yan Guoqing, the Vice Governor of Li Chuan County, and Li Hen’an, the leader of Discipline Inspection Group of Li Chuan County and the Vice President of Jiang Xi Charity and other representatives attended the distribution ceremony.  

In the middle and late June, with the kind and helpful collaboration and support from Jiangxi Province Charity Foundation, Plan China was able to send its Disaster Risk Management team from Xi’an to carry out rapid assessment in the worst-hit areas of Jiangxi Province. Considering the results of the rapid assessment and the suggestions of local government, Plan China decided to start relief work for children and their families in Li Chuan County. In line with the child-centered principle, Plan China not only provided rice for the disaster-hit families, but particularly provided clothes and nutrient food for children. In all, the relief fund has amounted to RMB 860,000, and more than 10,000 children and 30,000 families in Li Chuan County benefited from the relief work. 

“We hope that together we can show an example of Chinese and international cooperation and that over time more and more enterprises and individuals will make further efforts in promoting children’s development in China,” Appealed by Mark Leighton.  

In recent years, as a result of man-made and naturally occurring global climate change, the occurrence of repeated and extreme climate phenomenon is increasing globally and certain types of disasters happen frequently in many countries including China. Disasters affect a large area of China. Statistics shows that more than 70% of cities in China and about 50% of the total population are potentially threatened by earthquake, flood, and drought as well as by other related disasters such as landslides or threats to food security. In Addition, disasters happened in China may be sudden and unexpected with high impact, such as the 2008 Wen Chuan earthquake, or they may be slower and more predictable but no less damaging to life and property – such as the floods across Jiangxi and other Chinese provinces this year. 

Introduced by Mark Leighton, in combination with this characteristic, Plan China referred to its relief and reconstruction work implemented in the Wen Chuan earthquake-affected areas and Plan’s disaster risk management experience in other developing countries in the world, and Plan China is enhancing and scaling up its disaster risk management work through cooperation with governments. Now, its focus on disaster risk management looks firstly at community preparedness and then in the event of actual disasters we work on relief and recovery phases paying particular attention to the immediate survival needs of children and to child protection and education during the relief and recovery phase.