A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck Taxkorgan County, Kashi, Xinjiang on May 11, 2017. Urumqi Church started praying and helping the victims after hearing the news.
According to the WeChat account 'Jianghe', the Christian Council of Urumqi City proposed on May 13 that all churches and gatherings donate for ethnic groups in the disaster area. After the Sunday service on May 14, all the churches took action. Some withdrew a certain amount of donation money after consultation among lay workers while some gave the entire Sunday offering as a special fund for disaster relief. All the churches wired the money to the Christian Council of Urumqi and 50,804 yuan (USA $7,380) was donated on that day alone.
The money will be used for disaster relief via the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs, according to the church.
Taxkorgan County belongs to southern Xinjiang while Urumqi is located in northern Xinjiang. The earthquake occurred on the morning of May 11 at 5:58 am, causing severe damage to old houses and livestock barns with either wood, dirt or stone and wood construction. The earthquake killed 8 people and left 23 wounded with around 12,000 affected.
Translated by Grace Hubl
