RELIEF workers from Hong Kong yesterday began assessing the damage and needs of the survivors of the quake. But an Oxfam Hong Kong representative said relief workers were having difficulties reaching the disaster area. 'Local government bodies warned the workers there would be massive aftershocks, and they didn't want them to enter,' she said. Yesterday, three relief staff from World Vision Hong Kong, with $500,000 sent out to Kunming, were looking for blankets and warm clothes for the survivors amid fears they would perish in the cold. They also began assessing the needs of the worst-hit areas. Four tonnes of clothing and emergency supplies from the Salvation Army and other charity groups will be flown out of the territory today. Two plane-loads of medical and emergency equipment from Medecins Sans Frontieres should arrive in Kunming this morning, along with 13 staff including doctors and nurses. The planes, which left from Brussels and Amsterdam, carry 60 tonnes of supplies - including a Toyota Landcruiser. Surgical kits, standard medical supplies and drugs for 10,000 people to last three months are among the haul, as are generators, water tanks, chlorination tests, ropes, 9,000 blankets and many rolls of plastic sheeting. Pledges of cash and assistance have been flooding in from other Hong Kong organisations. Caritas Hong Kong has pledged $200,000, and the Association of Chinese Evangelical Ministry aims to raise $1 million. In addition, four workers in Hunan and Guangxi provinces are poised to be dispatched to carry out relief programmes on the association's behalf.
