China: Catholic volunteers among first responders to Tianjin disaster

St Joseph's Cathedral, Tianjin

Catholic volunteers were among the first to respond to the tragedy following last Wednesday's huge ‎explosions in an industrial area in the port city Tianjin in ‎northeastern China that has killed at least 114 ‎people and injured more than 700. Seventy are missing, most of them fire fighters. ‎

The morning after the blast, the Tianjin Diocesan Social Service Centre helped line up 60 volunteers to ‎assist the government's rescue and relief work. They distributed drinking water, clothes and other ‎supplies to hospitals and temporary settlements for evacuees. The volunteers were briefed on chemical ‎contamination before heading to the disaster area, where officials divided them into groups and ‎dispatched them to various relief camps and hospitals.‎

An underground priest told ucanews.com that in the hours following the blast, they celebrated Mass ‎and prayed for "the dead, the injured and their families." "This is the only thing that we can do," the ‎priest said. In downtown Tianjin, Fr Zhang Liang of St Joseph's Cathedral appealed for donations and ‎choir members gathered to give blood. ‎

Pope Francis on Sunday remembered those hit by the Tianjin disaster‎, and assured his prayers for the ‎dead and those hit by the tragedy, imploring comfort for them and support ‎for those engaged in ‎relief ‎work. ‎

Source: UCAN