In this China Youth Daily article, the One Foundation, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), China Women’s Development Foundation in China are praised for being among the quickest Chinese NGOs to respond after a devastating earthquake struck Nepal on April 25. The article says that the active participation and quick response of Chinese NGOs after the earthquake is a positive sign for the development of the Chinese civil society. Chinese NGOs started to form disaster relief cooperative mechanisms after Lushan earthquake(April 20, 2013). During the time of Ludian earthquake (August 3, 2014), 20 NGOs got together and launched a disaster relief cooperation platform.
But, the article points out, Chinese NGOs still have lots of issues in disaster relief work. Yao Yao, former associate director of communication of the One Foundation, said that Chinese NGOs are good at providing material support but are lack the ability to provide professional medical assistance. Jin Jinping, director of the Center for NPOs Law of Peking University, also pointed out that current disaster relief cooperative mechanisms are not sustainable because of the lack of communication between members and a failure to build effective online alliances. Those alliances are only active when disaster occurs, which results in an inability to deal with real-life situations. According to Jin, NGOs and civil society organizations should become crucial parts of the national disaster relief system and a good complement to the emergency management functions of the government. They should be able to take action and participate in government decision-makings in issues such as temporary resettlement and reconstruction after disaster.
