 CHENGDU, China (KCBS/AP) -- Chinese communities around the country are mobilizing to help victims of the catastrophic earthquake that has destroyed countless buildings and killed more than 12,000 people in China's Sichuan province, where many Chinese immigrants have roots and family ties.
After the magnitude 7.9 temblor struck Monday, U.S. residents with ties to the region anxiously sought news about China's worst earthquake in three decades and tried to contact friends and relatives through jammed phone lines and e-mail.
David Lee, whose wife's family lives in Chengdu, about 50 miles from the quake's epicenter, finally reached family members by cell phone after many unsuccessful attempts. Lee, who heads the Chinese American Voter Education Committee in San Francisco, described a situation in which relatives were sleeping in their cars, with no access to electricity or running water.
Meanwhile, a Bay Area search and rescue expert is feeling a growing sense of dread as he watches news accounts of the rescue effort in China. Every hour that passes seals the fate of people trapped in buildings toppled by the quake, said Menlo Park Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman.
All the pandas at the world's most famous preserve in China are safe after the quake. Oakland Zoo officials had been working with their Chengdu counterparts to acquire one of the animals.
China's official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday the death toll had exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone.
Soon after news of the earthquake broke, Chinese organizations nationwide began setting up ways for people to donate money for disaster relief efforts.
Sing Tao Daily, one of the largest Chinese language newspapers in the U.S., published eight pages of quake coverage Tuesday and set up a disaster relief fund that will collect donations from its readers around the world, said Tim Lau, CEO of the paper's West Coast operations.
"Starting yesterday morning, we got calls asking what Sing Tao will do," Lau said, adding that the paper raised more than $1 million from Bay Area residents to help victims of the Asian tsunami in 2004. "The whole community is responding pretty rapidly."
In New York City, Chinese Americans already have donated thousands of dollars to help quake victims, community leaders said Tuesday.
Justin Yu, president of the New York Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, said the association put out a fundraising appeal to more than 60 member groups Tuesday. It had raised $9,500 on Monday, but hopes to raise between $50,000 and $100,000, he said.
City Councilman John Liu, who represents a Queens district with a large Chinese population, held a news conference Monday to urge New Yorkers to donate to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.
"Communications are not yet fully up in the heaviest hit areas in Sichuan, but it's heartening to know that New Yorkers are stepping up with expressions of sympathy and offers of aid relief," Liu said.
Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation in Flushing, N.Y., had put out a call for donations Monday, and people were coming by Tuesday to drop off checks
"We're asking people to pray for these victims," said chapter secretary Yuru Chou. "Our philosophy is, whatever you do will help. ... To us, $5 is the same as $5,000. It really is the act of love that we are promoting."
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KCBS' Rebecca Corral reports
