Help should be sent quickly

According to news reports aired last night, thousands of local residents were calling the offices of the ROC Red Cross asking how they can donate money, supplies, medicine and food to help the survivors of the disaster.

There have been so many calls that operators at the normally quiet Red Cross were unable to cope with the inflow.

Local governments in Taichung and Nantou County, which both suffered tremendous devastation in the Chichi earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, have set up special accounts for local people to send their donations.

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou yesterday personally paid a visit to the Red Cross, where he donated NT$200,000 of his own money and urged the public to give generously.

While political relations between Taiwan and mainland China remain in a deep freeze after years of tensions under the leadership of outgoing President Chen Shui-bian, it is clear that people here strongly sympathize with those who are suffering on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.

After the 1999 quake hit, cutting off power, water and communications to many parts of central Taiwan, governments around the world rushed to send in aid and emergency supplies.

Many countries, including Mexico, Russia, the United States, Germany and Switzerland, even quickly dispatched expert rescue crews who immediately helped local counterparts search through the rubble to find miracle survivors.

According to media reports, President-elect Ma has already coordinated efforts with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin to organize a special crew of 60 expert rescuers who are ready to depart for Sichuan at a moment’s notice.

We hope that by the time this reaches print, Red Cross officials on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will be able to coordinate well enough so that the team of rescuers will already be on its way, if not already there.

If too much time is wasted in talking about sending rescuers, there will be no survivors left to pluck from the rubble and more lives will be lost.

Given our experience rescuing victims in the 1999 quake, we expect to see our rescuers employ the latest in advanced equipment used to detect and save survivors that was purchased and manufactured here in preparation for future disasters.

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