[
Watch video] He drives for a living, but cabbie Wang Xuekui is now putting his own life on the line to try and save victims of the massive quake that hit Southwest China's Sichuan province on Monday.
"I want to bring some injured back to Chengdu, where they can get better treatment," said Wang.
The Chengdu resident was on his way to the quake-devastated area of Dujiangyan yesterday morning, where victims include hundreds of students buried under a collapsed building of the Juyuan Middle School.
Even as ambulances and aid agencies have been stepping up efforts between Chengdu and cities like Dujiangyan to reach and attend to the injured, residents in the provincial capital like Wang have been spurred by the devastation to do what they can to help in relief work for the quake-hit cities west of Chengdu.
Despite heavy rain last night, a number of residents were seen giving blood at a makeshift blood donation station on Hongxing Road in the downtown area.
Hu Ran, a 45-year-old public servant in the Jinniu district government, told China Daily he wanted to help people in disaster-hit areas in Dujiangyan and neighboring Wenchuan county in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefectures in Sichuan.
His wife Xiao Rong, a public servant in the district government, also donated blood at the same station.
Su Ping, chief of the emergency response office of the Sichuan provincial department of health, said about 300 people in Chengdu donated blood in the city's two makeshift blood donation stations in Linyin Street and Hongxing Road on Monday night.
Apart from donating blood, some urbanities have also asked the local radio station to find out how they can help with their private vehicles.
Similarly, a local retailer called the local radio station to offer 100 flashlights to Dujiangyan, after hearing of power outages in the city.
Many university students from the city have also applied to be volunteers of the local branch of the Red Cross Society of China to help in Dujiangyan.
(China Daily May 14, 2008)