UNICEF held a press conference on its Sichuan earthquake one year report in the Westin Hotel in Beijing's Chaoyang District, May 11, 2009. Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF representative to China (L2), and Yi Xiaozhun, Vice Minister of Commerce of China (L3) attended the press conference. [Photo: UNICEF]

One year after the devastating earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province on last May 12, extensive assistance from the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF) continues to reach some of the most vulnerable children and women in the quake-torn regions.

In a new UNICEF report, launched on Monday at a press conference in Beijing, the UN Internatinal Children's Fund outlined how it has assisted the Chinese government in education, health, nutrition, clean water, sanitation, psychological support, child protection, HIV/AIDS and social policies for children.

The report says UNICEF has provided 20 million US dollars for earthquake relief and recovery over the past 12 months. Assistance has been delivered, in cooperation with national and local government agencies, in 29 counties and districts across 3 provinces covering a population of 2.5 million children and 4 million women.

"The scale of the Sichuan earthquake was large and the government of China has made tremendous progress in providing shelter for families, getting children back to school and repairing damaged infrastructure in the earthquake zone," said Dr. Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF Representative to China.

She added, "We will continue to support these efforts, with emphasis on children and women, as there are still many families who need assistance to return to their normal lives." UNICEF plans to continue assistance for earthquake relief through to 2011.

According to the UNICEF representative to China, last year's earthquake struck a region where some of China's poorest counties are located, and where UNICEF had been working with local authorities to help poor, vulnerable children and women for many years.

To date, about half of UNICEF earthquake relief funds have gone to health care, water and sanitation interventions. One third of available funds has been made available to children by which they have returned to safe, well equipped "Child Friendly" schools. The remainder has well supported child protection, psychological support, shelter and other purposes.

Meanwhile, UNICEF has also prioritized detailed reporting on the use of all emergency donor funds. At the one, three, six month and now the one year anniversary after the quake, detailed reports have been produced to document how those funds have been utilized.

"We were only able to respond as quickly and effectively as we did to support the Chinese government's efforts in this emergency because of the swift and generous support of our donors," said Dr. Nwe.
 
UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to help meet the needs of children.

So far, UNICEF has received donations totaling 37 million US dollars, and is aiming to raise up to 45 million US dollars to finance its medium to long term projects in the earthquake zones.