TEMPORARY HOME: Boarding school students walk between tents on the playground of Tianquan Middle School in Tianquan County, Ya'an City in Sichuan Province, after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on April 20 (WANG JIANHUA)

Teachers evacuated more than 2,500 students at Tianquan Middle School to soccer fields and playgrounds within 90 seconds and no casualties were reported from the school, thanks to emergency evacuation drills. The school just finished a drill on April 18, two days before the quake struck. It is part of regular teaching activities held each semester ever since a 8.0-magnitude quake hit the province on May 12, 2008. Unfortunately, the teaching buildings could not be used due to cracks in the walls.

Staff members took out 46 tents from the warehouse that the school received after the 2008 quake, and set them up on campus for temporary shelters, but it was far from enough to accommodate all the students.

Li contacted Xue via his former student on April 23 to confirm the situation. "I was surprised that Li and her friends got my phone numbers. At first, they said they would donate relief goods anonymously," Xue told Beijing Review. "But I insisted on getting their names because the local civil affairs department needs the donor's information when delivering goods."

The second round of fundraising was on the way soon after Li's fact check. They collected another 8,250 yuan ($1,299), making the total to 11,653.3 yuan ($2,744).

Unlike the first round, Li purchased relief goods—100 folded beds as well as five 22-square-meter tents for Tianquan Middle School and 30 quilts for individual victims—from online shops to reduce costs. She also required every seller to send goods and delivery receipts to her via e-mail.

"At the very beginning, we just wanted to collect money among friends and send relief goods directly to the quake zone to offer some help. We never thought of the charity," Gu said. "I didn't expect feedback like this."

"To be honest, I was stressed before receiving Xue's call, because this was our first time to make donations in this way. I was afraid of any potential risks that could make the delivery a failure. If that were the case, I would feel deeply sorry for the donors," Li stated.

In addition to donations from Li and her friends, the school received point-to-point donations from other cities across China. "I really appreciate their help," Xue said.

Transparent charity

Besides individual donations, organizations also use social media as a tool to promote transparent charity for Ya'an quake relief.

There were more than 600,000 posts under the topic of transparent charity on the Sina Weibo microblog service after the quake struck. On April 23, the China Foundation Center, a legally registered public charity described in the regulation of the country's Ministry of Civil Affairs, jointly launched a self-discipline alliance for Ya'an quake relief with several domestic foundations.

The China Foundation Center, which aimed to make philanthropy transparent, posted news related to quake relief via its verified Sina Weibo account, and also gradually revealed how donations worth 1.049 billion yuan ($165 million) were utilized.

Xue Manzi, a famous angel investor whose Sina Weibo account has more than 11 million followers, posted on April 30, "The era of everyone for charity has truly arrived with the rise of micro-charity."

"All our moves came from trust among people, be it an acquaintance or stranger," Gu said.

"I totally agree with the concept of One Foundation, 'It starts with one,' because charity is a step-by-step thing, you can't push or rush," Li said. "More people might be mobilized if we could accumulate our power little by little within the scope of our capabilities."

Email us at: chenran@bjreview.com