Christians bring safe water and hope for China earthquake survivors

|PIC1|Christians are bringing safe water to survivors of the 12 May earthquake in China's Sichuan province, as the country's ruling Communist party and NGOs alike turn their attention to long-term reconstruction.

The Project Director of the US-based Christian charity Water Missions International, Andre Merganthaler, is leading a water resource team of engineers and technicians in the badly affected city of Chengdu where they are installing and operating 12 water purification systems.

Six water purification systems were requested by Samaritan's Purse and flown from Charlotte in North Carolina last week along with $1 million in relief supplies to Chengdu in the ministry's chartered Boeing 747. Six additional systems were sent out early this week by FedEx to Chengdu from Water Missions' headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina.

Each water system can be rapidly assembled by volunteers in just a few hours and provides a continuous supply of approximately 10,000 gallons of water per day.
The systems work by purifying available surface and contaminated well water sources in disaster areas.

Up to 80,000 people are believed to have died in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake and its numerous aftershocks, and 5 million have been left homeless and in desperate need of food, shelter and clean water.

Temporary accommodation is being built across the quake-affected areas, whilst food and clothing continues to be distributed among towns and remote villages. The rebuilding of homes and infrastructure is expected to take up to three years.

According to the Communist Party's vice minister of the organisation department, Ouyang Song, party members have given 1.7 billion yuan (around £122 million) towards the reconstruction effort through voluntary additional membership fees.