China Earthquake Appeal Launched

The worst earthquake in over 30 years to hit China struck on Sunday afternoon, measuring 7.8 on the Richter Scale. Tens of thousands of people have been killed or injured in Sichuan province and the heavily populated areas around Chengdu and the epicentre at Wenchuan. The search for survivors among the rubble and devastation continues and Chinese people around the world have begun raising money to send to the victims of the disaster.

ATV held a press conference yesterday to announce a series of programmes that their artistes will be taking part in to raise funds and follow the transfer of aid to the affected regions. The station announced that they will be broadcasting 24 hour coverage of the rescue efforts in Sichuan on their news channels. All of the ATV artiste population will also be taking part in activities on and off the screen to raise money for the aid appeal.

The company will also be donating free airtime to charities to urge the public to make donations. The other Hong Kong media organisations are also taking action to help the victims of the quake. TVB announced that they will be holding a fundraising telethon on Saturday.

The Hong Kong Performing Artistes Guild are also in discussions to decide what they will be doing to support the fundraising effort. Honorary president Eric Tsang announced on his return to Hong Kong that they may consider joining forces with other organisations such as TVB to maintain the sense of unity.

ATV Press Conference