Warm hearts as quake relief efforts continue

Yushu in Qinghai province has been rebuilt after an earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 people, struck four years ago. But for many people modern houses, roads and infrastructure cannot heal their emotional aftershocks.

"The government has done well, but there are still some subtle things in our heart that need neighborhood watch and care, and that is why people like me work here," said Tsering Yangdrol, a volunteer of the BMW Warm Heart Fund.

Established in 2008, the fund was one of the first organizations that went to Yushu for relief work following the earthquake. One survivor recalled volunteers who asked what they needed before supplies poured in.

As the area moved on from the disaster and people got back on their feet, the relief workers left but the work of the Warm Heart Fund continued.

During the past four years, the Warm Heart Fund made six journeys to the affected areas to distribute much-needed winter supplies and school equipment.

A Yushu local, Tsering Yangdrol was a college student when the earthquake hit and she lost her mother and two nephews. She was one of the first volunteers and after four years is one of the very few longstanding helpers.

"The job is not easy," she said. "Every time I heard my countrymen weeping for the death of their relatives, I think of my own mother."

As coordinator of the fund in Yushu, Tsering Yangdrol assesses the needs of local herdsmen to start new relief programs tailored to their demands.

A recent scheme included a donation campaign last year, in which more than 100 people nationwide donated yaks.

Traditionally local residents rarely save money but rich families may have hundreds of yaks, which mean wealth for the herdsmen. Yak meat and milk are traditional food sources, the bones can be made into medicine and the fur used for clothes.

Tsering Yangdrol said her biggest wish was to start a recovery center in the region's capital, Jiegu.

"Many people survived the earthquake but became handicapped," she said.

"They have to stay in bed for most of the time, which may easily lead to mental diseases. So I want to have a place for them only, where they can encourage each other."

Yu Shan, another volunteer from Xi'an city, in Shaanxi province, took part in the fund's charity campaigns for two years. "Instead of an organization, we are more like a group of friends doing what we can to help others," he said.