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.

In the meantime, authorities here should quickly give the green light for charter aircraft carrying emergency supplies such as tents, food and medicine, to depart for Sichuan as soon as possible.

During his visit to the Red Cross yesterday, Ma said that while it was probably impossible for our aircraft to reach the epicenter of the quake itself, charter flights could be arranged to nearby airports so that supplies and personnel could quickly reach their destination.

This was precisely how aid was funneled into Taichung and Nantou counties in 1999, with much of the supplies flown in to Chingchuankang Air Force Base in central Taiwan.

In a worst-case scenario, supplies could still be transferred at airports in Hong Kong and Macao, although this would be a colossal waste of time and funds earmarked for aid to the victims.

We also remember that in 1999, mainland China generously donated about US$3 million through its Red Cross organization to our own Red Cross.

Rather than merely match this amount, we hope to see much more humanitarian support sent to the other side.

This would not only reflect the broad sympathy that people here have for the earthquake victims, but would also function as a gesture of our desire for peace and a cooperative relationship between the two sides.

As the days turn into weeks, we hope that authorities and charities here will help send in temporary housing for earthquake victims similar to the housing that was quickly built for the September 1999 victims in central Taiwan.

Despite Taiwan’s affluence, many impoverished earthquake victims had to live in their “temporary” housing for several years before finally moving back in to permanent housing.

We were especially pleased to see our numerous charities working hard to get aid into Sichuan province as quickly as possible. Many charities have donated funds to the Red Cross and other international organizations, which will take the money and use it to purchase emergency supplies, food, clothing and fresh water within mainland China.

We hope that authorities in mainland China will not delay our charitable organizations as they seek to gain access to devastated areas and distribute emergency supplies.

Only good things could happen if both sides temporarily set aside their political differences and cope with this humanitarian tragedy.