Winter is here, and the Lunar New Year is around the corner. Oxfam has begun its second phase of assistance with people in Bazhong, the area worst hit by the flooding and landslides back in September 2011.

Oxfam colleagues have just returned from a review of the first phase, and have begun working with local partner organisations to deliver additional support for families. Oxfam is partnering with the Rural Development Research Center to implement the next phase of the programme, which aims to benefit 3,000 people (778 families) whose homes had collapsed. The poorest of the families will also receive rice and cooking oil. The budget for the second phase is over 480,000 Yuan, and so far, Oxfam has assisted more than 200 of the 778 families.

The torrential rains of September 2011 caused severe floods across nine provinces in central and western China, affecting more than 21 million people and displacing 1.7 million. In Bazhong alone, 1.37 million people were affected, 191 towns flooded, nearly 40,000 hectares of crops destroyed, 30,000 homes damaged, 21 people killed, and 3.7 billion Yuan in economic losses.

From September 2011 to January 2012, Oxfam supported various emergency relief efforts, such as providing 8,000 people with 260,000 catties of rice, 1,400 bottles of cooking oil (5L/bottle) and 1,400 quilts; and in Bazhong, Oxfam assisted 2,596 people in the first phase.

Oxfam Hong Kong will continue monitoring the situation in Bazhong and other locations, and assessing people’s needs for other necessary responses. The budget of the entire relief effort is over 480,000 Yuan.