Universities send help to quake-affected students

Major universities across the country are extending helping hands to students in earthquake-hit areas in Northwest China, aiming to help them overcome difficulties.

Temporary hardship allowances, plus psychological counseling services, are now being offered to students whose families were affected by the disaster.

In Gansu province, where a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck, local universities are doing what they can to financially support and appease students from the families affected by the quake.

Ma Xiaojie, Party chief of Lanzhou University, immediately set up a special task force to visit the campus and student dormitories to respond in a timely manner to students' needs, according to a statement released by the university.

Ma urged relevant departments in his university to open a special channel for temporary assistance to the students in disaster-stricken areas as soon as possible to ensure their normal lives on campus.

Lanzhou-based Northwest Minzu University has so far provided temporary hardship allowances valued at 47,000 yuan ($6,700) to 91 students affected by the disaster.

Northwest Normal University has decided to provide the first batch of temporary hardship subsidies worth 121,000 yuan to 121 students from families in earthquake-stricken areas, including Jishishan county in Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture of Gansu and Haidong city in Qinghai province.

As of Wednesday noon, Lanzhou University has distributed the first batch of special temporary hardship subsidies of 49,400 yuan to 32 students including An Jixi, a student from the First Clinical Medical College of the university. "It's timely help for me and my family," he said, adding that his family's house in Linxia collapsed due to the quake.

In Beijing, Renmin University of China has fully deployed emergency assistance for quake-affected students, including providing temporary hardship subsidies on Tuesday morning.

Similarly, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications has opened an appointment channel for psychological counseling for students from disaster-stricken areas, which can provide immediate psychological counseling.

In Shanghai, 57 students from the disaster-affected areas had been identified by Tuesday night. Local universities and colleges are offering temporary hardship subsidies valued from 500 to 3,000 yuan to each of the students, according to the city's education department.

In Tianjin, in addition to temporary hardship subsidies, teachers and counselors from Tianjin University of Technology talked one-on-one to the students from quake-hit families.

In Guangdong province, universities are also offering temporary hardship allowances to such students. An assessment of how many students are from the quake areas and how their families have been affected has been carried out, according to a statement released by the Guangdong Department of Education on Wednesday.

South China University of Technology promptly provided funding for its students from stricken areas. It sent one-on-one messages urging students to contact the university if they encounter difficulties.

At the same time, counselors and teachers are following up on the studies and lives of these students.

Ma Jingna in Linxia, Gansu province, and Zhang Jiexin in Guangzhou contributed to this story.