SINGAPORE - While Singapore NGOs like Mercy Relief and Singapore Red Cross are participating in aid efforts in Myanmar following torrential rain in the country, one Singapore company is also chipping in.
In an effort to step-up aid to the South-east Asian nation, ERA Realty Network Pte Ltd is asking Singaporeans to donate food, medical supplies and clothes.
ERA began collecting supplies on Aug 3 to support an initiative by Yangon-based Singaporean Alina Tan, who is an ERA representative in Myanmar.
The company has so far managed to collect enough supplies to fill a 20-footer container, they said in a press release on Thursday. This is in addition to three shipments of medical supplies which have already been shipped out, the release said. The 20-footer container of food, clothes and medical supplies will be shipped out this week.
Ms Tan, who has been working in Yangon for the last one and a half years, told The Straits Times that she started the collection drive just days after the floods hit Myanmar. She urged her company to help collect supplies after she was approached by her contacts in Myanmar.
"We are saddened to hear about the flood situation in Myanmar. All our agents, about 6,050 of them, have been activated to spread awareness on the organisation's relief efforts," said Jack Chua, CEO of ERA Singapore.
At least 103 people have been killed in the floods - the worst to hit the country since Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Close to a million people have been affected, according to the government and the United Nations.
The Singapore Government has pledged US$100,000 to help victims.
Recommended donations include clothes, jackets, blankets, biscuits, instant noodles, canned foods and cereal. Medications that can be supplied include diarrhea pills, water purification pills, first aid kits and Panadol.
Supplies can be dropped off at the ERA @ SLF Building at Thomson Road, Level B2, SLF Building, Singapore 298135. Volunteers at ERA will help to pack and prepare the supplies for shipping.
For more information, the public can contact Sharon Zhao at +65 6715 8503.
The public can also contribute cash and cheque donations to the Singapore Red Cross and Mercy Relief. More information about their relief efforts can be found at www.redcross.org.sg/ and www.mercyrelief.org respectively.
