will arrive in the disaster area hit by a devastating earthquake in China's Sichuan Province today, marking the launch of the first ever joint relief operation between Taiwan and China. Part of the joint relief mechanism is the large-scale humanitarian direct charter cross-strait flight service between the two former rivals.
There are currently more than one million of Taiwanese people living, working or studying in various cities in China.
Twenty-six volunteers from the Buddhist organizations Tzu Chi Foundation and Dharma Drum Mountain Foundation will depart in early morning to join their organizations' other members who were already posted in different cities in China for relief missions.
Two charter flights will take off from the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, carrying the relief goods, including tents, sleeping bags, blankets, and medical supplies.
The items were donated by members and supporters of several Taiwanese religious and charity organizations, including the Red Cross Society (RCS) of the Republic of China, the World Vision Taiwan, Buddhist Compassionate Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, the Buddhist Fo Guang Shan Temple Foundation, Dharma Drum Mountain Foundation, and the Ling Jiou Mountain Foundation.
The Air Macau charter flight, carrying around 46 tons of relief goods aboard, was scheduled to depart for Sichuan's Shuangliu International Airport at 10 a.m. and is estimated to land at around 1 p.m., according to Kuomintang Legislator John Chiang.
Another flight provided by China Airlines would carry 110 tonnes of relief items from charity groups in a Boeing 747-400 full cargo plane which will depart at 5 p.m. and arrive at 8:30 p.m.
Noting that relief, search and rescue work in the wake of major natural disasters should not be subject to political or religious boundaries, Legislator Chiang called for Taiwanese people from all walks of life to pitch in to help the quake victims.
But several rescue teams still remain on standby for relief mission in China before the traffic conditions in the disaster area are improved.
Chinese officials handling affairs related to Taiwan in Beijing expressed their appreciation for the quick response from people on the island to provide relief assistance.
They said the search and rescue mission is presently performed mainly by military troops because of the devastated transport networks.
Monetary donations and relief materials continue pouring in from all sources.
Staffs at charity organizations said that their offices were flooded with phone calls of inquiries about where and how to donate money and products.
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