Chinese commiserate with Italy quake survivors

By Tan Yingzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-11 08:30

Care and love know no boundaries. After experiencing last year's devastating earthquake in Sichuan province, Chinese people are showing their support for the victims of the quake that struck Italy last week.

Italy's embassy in Beijing told China Daily on Friday that it had received many messages of condolence from government bodies and ordinary people across China since Italy's worst earthquake in three decades hit the nation's central Abruzzo region on Monday.

So far, the magnitude-6.3 quake has killed 289 people, leaving around 40,000 homeless, Italian media reported.

Italy was one of the first countries to offer aid to quake-hit Sichuan province last May. The Sichuan provincial government and the city of Deyang, one of the worst hit, have sent condolences to the Italian embassy.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the nation's rescue efforts did not require any international assistance, but the embassy said it welcomed financial aid.

Well-known philanthropist Chen Guangbiao was among the first in China to send financial support to Italy.

On Friday afternoon, his charity fund donated 1 million yuan ($143,000) to Italy's disaster-relief effort.

"As soon as I heard the news, I contacted our foreign ministry to see whether I could make some donation," the 40-year-old businessman told China Daily.

"The 1 million yuan may not give much help to the quake victims, but it carries Chinese people's love and care to the Italian people."

Chen, board chairman of Jiangsu Huangpu Recycle Resources Use Co Ltd, has donated 713 million yuan over the past decade to charitable causes in China and six foreign countries.

"Charity knows no boundaries or nationalities," said Chen, who added that media reports about the quake had moved him to tears.

"The reaction from the Chinese people and government toward the earthquake is touching," Italian Ambassador Riccardo Sessa said in a letter of thanks to Chen.

"The two quakes have brought our two countries and two peoples much closer."

Overseas Chinese in Rome collected over 70,000 euros for quake relief, and the China Red Cross Foundation has offered $30,000 in emergency aid to its counterpart in Italy.

No Chinese people were reported to have been killed in the quake so far.