When news of the Sichuan earthquake broke on Monday, May 12, Thomas Scholz quickly realized he was in a better position than most to make a significant contribution to the relief effort. As the general manager of Laerdal Medical based in Suzhou's SND, he has spent the past five years providing emergency medical supplies and equipment to a number of projects on the Chinese mainland. The most recent involves training volunteers to give CPR and heart compression to people who fall ill during the Beijing Olympics; a time when hundreds of thousands of extra visitors are expected to descend on the capital. As part of this project Laerdal has been working closely alongside Professor Lee Zong Hao, Chairman of the China Association of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, who has since assumed a major role in directing quake relief efforts while making regular TV appearances about its progress. "You could say that we were very lucky in already having the know-how and the contacts to be able to make a big difference," says Mr. Scholz. "We asked Prof Lee if we could support the rescue effort with our products and he said yes." And once given the go-ahead, Laerdal made the decision to devote the whole of Wednesday to the packaging and freight of desperately needed emergency aid. Working flat out (and still less than 48 hours after the quake hit) the employees managed to put together 10,000 individual packs of supplies, each containing airway management equipment and flat boards to help transport victims safely. That same evening the packages left the factory floor for shipment, arriving safely in the worst hit areas the following afternoon. "Everybody felt proud of being able to do something so important and so quickly, not only helping with money, but by doing something connected with their own jobs," says Mr Scholz. But the work of Suzhou companies hasn't stopped there. Through DUSA (Suzhou's European business association) and an alliance with the Italian Chamber of Commerce and the Malaysia Assocation among others, Mr Scholz has helped co-ordinate a wider relief effort that will ensure that while some of the monies raised will be channeled through the Red Cross and other national and international organizations, the rest will go to specifically named projects. This has been a particularly growing concern nationwide as the debate has moved on from merely raising money to making sure that money is effectively used. "The fact that we have people actually on the ground in Sichuan will make this a lot easier," he says. 

For details about how to make a donation to one of DUSA's fundraising projects, visit www.dusa.cn.