Oxfam Hong Kong has distributed the first batch of relief items to survivors of the deadly earthquake -- blankets for 2,000 people (500 families) in a temporary camp set up in a racecourse in the town of Jiegu in Yushu County, Qinghai.

Yet, about 20,000 people are living in this camp, and the needs are urgent. A second shipment of blankets for 2,000 more people is being flown from Oxfam Hong Kong's warehouse in Yunnan to Xining, the capital of Qinghai, with sponsorship from Sichuan Airlines. These supplies are expected to arrive in Jiegu by tomorrow, 19 April.

"Oxfam Hong Kong colleagues and I slept in our four-wheel-drive vehicle last night," said Aman Yee, Deputy Programme Manager of the Rural Development and Disaster Management Team of Oxfam Hong Kong. "The temperature was at the freezing point. Survivors in tents urgently need blankets to stay warm, to stay alive. Oxfam Hong Kong is assisting 2,000 people in Jiegu so far, and tomorrow, we will assist another 2,000.

Another team based in Oxfam Hong Kong's office in Chengdu, Sichuan, is now in Shiqu, a county in Sichuan also badly hit by the earthquake. They will soon distribute blankets for 2,000 people and rolls of durable waterproof fabric for 4,000 people as temporary shelter.

Zhai Fan, Manager of the Rural Development and Disaster Management Team of Oxfam Hong Kong, said, "Shiqu is 4,256 metres above sea level, much higher than Yushu, Qinghai (about 3,800 metres), and some Oxfam colleagues had started to develop high-altitude sickness: purple-lipped and very short of breath. They have now adapted and are able to work in the affected region. They have medicine on hand, and doctors are available, if sickness returns. The Oxfam team is currently planning an appropriate emergency response, together with the support of the local government in Shiqu."