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REACHING OUT: A Mercy Relief volunteer helping to stack boxes of relief supplies for cyclone victims. -- ST PHOTO: CAROLINE CHIA
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HELP has poured in from every quarter for the victims of last Saturday's cyclone in Myanmar.
Tens of thousands of dollars have been raised by organisations ranging from schools and charities to temples and businesses with interests in Myanmar.
Some of the money comes from those who can least afford it. Cleaner Yuen Wing Chye, 70, took a bus from his four-room flat in Ghim Moh to the Singapore Red Cross headquarters on Penang Lane to donate $150 on behalf of his family of six.
'It may be a small sum but I hope it will go a long way to help,' he said.
The Singapore Red Cross has raised just under $220,000, almost half its target of $500,000.
The biggest contribution to the Red Cross so far came from Creative Technology chief Sim Wong Hoo, who sent a cheque for $100,000.
Money has also been rolling into other aid agencies that are raising funds.
The Salvation Army has raised $50,000 while Mercy Relief has received $125,000. The two groups aim to raise $250,000 and $300,000 respectively.
Some Singapore-based companies with business interests in Myanmar that are pitching in to help have employees who have been directly affected by the disaster.
Among them is Yoma Strategic Holdings, which has land and real estate developments there.
The cyclone left one in 10 of its 4,000 employees homeless. The homes of another 1,300 are badly damaged, said Yoma's executive chairman and chief executive officer Serge Pun, himself a Myanmar national.
'Our only consolation is that no one died...Now, we have to help them move on with their lives,' he added.
The company has set up a $100,000 relief fund to build homes and buy food for its staff. Its six directors will donate 10 per cent of this year's director's fees - or about $17,000 - to it.
The desire of some to do more than give moneyhas been thwarted by their inability to get visas.
Aid agencies here have also not received clearance to send in medical and disaster relief teams.
Said Red Cross secretary-general Christopher Chua: 'Our medical relief teams can't wait much longer. More people will suffer.'
Some Myanmar nationals - a group of about 50 who call themselves Operation Nargis - have offered to enter Myanmar for the aid agencies, taking relief supplies. But there does not appear to be any takers for now.
The members of Operation Nargis have made themselves useful in other ways though - they have joined other volunteers to pack relief supplies such as tents, water purification tablets and utensils which are bound for Yangon this weekend.
Several of them showed up at the Singapore Soka Association's youth centre yesterday, where Mercy Relief staff and volunteers were hard at work.
Among them was Mr Zabu, 29, who heard about the ongoing packing work from his friends.
Said the Nanyang Technological University final-year student: 'It's a very sad thing that happened and I want to do my best to help my countrymen.'
jermync@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CAROLYN QUEK AND LEE PEIQI
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