"The brothers in Shandong shipped trucks of donations to support Xinxiang."
"The brothers in Beijing sent donations to relieve Xinxiang."
"These are our efforts to deliver donations of care to victims who are most in need. Immanuel!"
In recent days, Brother L from Xinxiang, flood-hit Henan Province has been updating the latest pictures and messages of disaster relief areas on his WeChat Moments, a category of updates on China’s most popular messaging app.
On July 20th, Zhengzhou, Henan's capital, suffering from torrential rains that were so rare for many years, was the focus of media at home and abroad. Meanwhile, news of torrential rains and floods in Xinxiang and Weihui, which are around Zhengzhou area, also hit headlines. At that time, L who was in Sichuan could not get back to his hometown in time. He became desperate and anxious as he would like to help the stricken areas after seeing all kinds of disaster news shared by friends and relatives on WeChat. He contacted churches and Christians in different places in the hope of donating materials to help his hometown as much as possible. Eventually, he got home to the rescue front shortly after public transportation resumed.
In fact, apart from Brother L, there were many unknown Christians in Xinxiang who managed to collect donations through various means such as WeChat Moments. They contacted the local authorities to deliver donations as soon as possible.
Some Christians spontaneously formed a rescue team to salvage victims in floods. On July 27th, a front-line rescue staff said, "Because I am busy with rescue during the day, I have no energy to cope with all kinds of external information and contact." He simply said: "Thank you very much to my family. Please pray for our front-line family."
Various short videos of front-line salvage and rescue have also been sent out by many front-line believers. Many people followed big trucks or rescue boats to the flooded roads and houses to find the stricken people.
In addition to directly participating in salvage and rescue, another major aid was to contact local relief supplies, especially daily necessities such as clean water, instant noodles, bread, tissue rolls, and deliver them to frontline victims. The victimes repeatedly called out to the outside world for various specific relief materials, such as "a large amount of rice, wheat and vegetables for support", "Urgent need! Urgent need! Urgent need! We need ice sleeves, ice pants, scalding pills, towels, sunscreen ointment, medical disinfection sleep, ointment soaked in water for a long time, toilet water, sulfur soap, power banks, glucose hydrating liquid." Another message went, "Steamed bread, water, boiled eggs, snacks, continue to send, maintain the hometown, we are in action. Come on Xinxiang! Come on Wei Hui!"
During the rescue, there were many difficult conditions such as continued heavy rains, but a Christian said, "Though the house leaks and it rains every night, no amount of rain can overwhelm the love of brothers and sisters."
The record-breaking rainstorms have caused 99 deaths and five missings as of Thursday afternoon, affecting more than 13.91 million people and 1.04 million hectares of crops.
- Translated by Charlie Li
“山东的弟兄运来大卡车物资支援新乡。”
“北京的弟兄送来物资支援新乡灾区。”
“把爱心人士的捐赠物资送达最需要的灾民受众是我们努力在做的事，以马内利。”
.....
最近几天，新乡L弟兄的朋友圈一直在分享驰援灾区的最新图文。7月20日，郑州遭遇多年难遇的暴雨，成为国内外媒体的焦点，与此同时，郑州周边的新乡、卫辉的暴雨和洪灾消息也在基督徒群体中刷屏。当时,L弟兄在四川不能及时赶回家乡，只是看到亲友们微信朋友圈中分享的各种灾区的情况，就已经心热如焚，和各地教会和基督徒联络希望能够尽量筹集物资帮助家乡，好不容易等交通恢复赶回家后没多久就再次奔赴驰援一线。
事实上,除了L弟兄，还有许多默默无闻的新乡基督徒透过微信朋友圈等各种方式联络物资，并和当地联系尽快送达。
有弟兄姐妹自发组成救援车队，到当地打捞救灾群众。7月27日，一线救援的同工说“因为白天都在忙着救援，没有精力应付各种外界信息和联络。他只是说：“非常感谢家人的关心，请为我们一线的家人代祷。”
各种一线打捞救援的小视频也被不少一线的弟兄姐妹发出来，可以看到许多人跟着大卡车、或者救援船一起到淹没的道路和房屋中寻找受灾的群众。
除了直接参与打捞救援外，另外一种主要的援助就是联络各地救援物资，尤其是清水、方便面、面包、卷纸等亟需的日常用品，送到一线的灾民手中。他们多次向外界发出各种具体的救援物资的呼声，比如“家人们，大量需要米面油菜，求支援”，“急需！急需！急需！把冰袖、冰裤、烫伤宁、毛巾、防晒药膏、医用消毒睡、水里泡久用的药膏、花露水、硫磺皂、充电宝、葡萄糖补水液”，“馒头、水、煮鸡蛋、点心、继续送、维护家乡，我们在行动。【新乡加油，卫辉加油】”。
在救援中，许多艰难的条件，甚至继续遭遇暴雨等，但有弟兄分享说：“屋漏偏逢连夜雨，再大的雨也压不倒弟兄姐妹的爱心。”
多地教会与基督徒驰援河南新乡与卫辉
"The brothers in Shandong shipped trucks of donations to support Xinxiang."
"The brothers in Beijing sent donations to relieve Xinxiang."
"These are our efforts to deliver donations of care to victims who are most in need. Immanuel!"
In recent days, Brother L from Xinxiang, flood-hit Henan Province has been updating the latest pictures and messages of disaster relief areas on his WeChat Moments, a category of updates on China’s most popular messaging app.
On July 20th, Zhengzhou, Henan's capital, suffering from torrential rains that were so rare for many years, was the focus of media at home and abroad. Meanwhile, news of torrential rains and floods in Xinxiang and Weihui, which are around Zhengzhou area, also hit headlines. At that time, L who was in Sichuan could not get back to his hometown in time. He became desperate and anxious as he would like to help the stricken areas after seeing all kinds of disaster news shared by friends and relatives on WeChat. He contacted churches and Christians in different places in the hope of donating materials to help his hometown as much as possible. Eventually, he got home to the rescue front shortly after public transportation resumed.
In fact, apart from Brother L, there were many unknown Christians in Xinxiang who managed to collect donations through various means such as WeChat Moments. They contacted the local authorities to deliver donations as soon as possible.
Some Christians spontaneously formed a rescue team to salvage victims in floods. On July 27th, a front-line rescue staff said, "Because I am busy with rescue during the day, I have no energy to cope with all kinds of external information and contact." He simply said: "Thank you very much to my family. Please pray for our front-line family."
Various short videos of front-line salvage and rescue have also been sent out by many front-line believers. Many people followed big trucks or rescue boats to the flooded roads and houses to find the stricken people.
In addition to directly participating in salvage and rescue, another major aid was to contact local relief supplies, especially daily necessities such as clean water, instant noodles, bread, tissue rolls, and deliver them to frontline victims. The victimes repeatedly called out to the outside world for various specific relief materials, such as "a large amount of rice, wheat and vegetables for support", "Urgent need! Urgent need! Urgent need! We need ice sleeves, ice pants, scalding pills, towels, sunscreen ointment, medical disinfection sleep, ointment soaked in water for a long time, toilet water, sulfur soap, power banks, glucose hydrating liquid." Another message went, "Steamed bread, water, boiled eggs, snacks, continue to send, maintain the hometown, we are in action. Come on Xinxiang! Come on Wei Hui!"
During the rescue, there were many difficult conditions such as continued heavy rains, but a Christian said, "Though the house leaks and it rains every night, no amount of rain can overwhelm the love of brothers and sisters."
The record-breaking rainstorms have caused 99 deaths and five missings as of Thursday afternoon, affecting more than 13.91 million people and 1.04 million hectares of crops.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Chinese Churches, Christians Aid Henan Floods
