ILO Response to Sichuan Earthquake of May 2008
  
On the afternoon of 12 May, 2008, an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale devastated eight provinces in Western China: Sichuan, (the most severely affected), Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Yunnan, Shanxi, Guizhou and Hubei. The death toll currently stands at 69,207, with thousands still missing. The earthquake also caused substantive livelihoods loss to nearly 50 million local residents. A sympathy message from the Director-General of the ILO was sent to the victims of disaster after the earthquake.
The Government of China has announced an eight-year reconstruction plan, which targets 2008-2010 for immediate recovery and 2011-2015 for long-term economic reconstruction. Provincial authorities, non-state national organizations and international organizations have drawn up, or in the process of drawing up plans and programmes for relief and recovery service programme.
The ILO has been taking action in the relief and post-earthquake recovery by working closely with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and All-China Women's Federation as well as local authorities. A review of international experiences in employment-sensitive disaster response programme took place at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on 25 June 2008. The ILO also conducted a field mission in July 2008 to review current emergency employment services operations in the earthquake-hit areas. The ILO and the EC-China Social Security Reform porject presented examples of international experiences in the areas of employment, income and social protection.
In June 2008, the ILO and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) jointly launched Emergency Start and Improve Your Business (E-SIYB) Project. The project provides targeted assistance to re-establishing at least 1,000 destroyed small businesses and setting up 700 new ones for those who lost their jobs. The project run up in July 2008 for a period of 12 months, focusing on rural townships in the cities of Mianyang, Deyang and Guangyuan.
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