Oregon Public Broadcasting

Portland based Mercy Corps loaded up a semi-trailer Thursday with more than nine tons of donated disaster relief supplies headed to China and Myanmar.  Pete Springer reports.

The donated supplies will head from Portland to Seattle, where they’ll be flown to Bangkok and later be distributed in Myanmar and China. 

Supplies include tarps, work gloves, solar charged flashlights, and even soccer balls, says Colleen Regalbuto with Mercy Corps.

Colleen Regalbuto: “’Cause often in a post disaster setting, there isn’t a lot to do for children and they need a sense of normalcy.  So we found that by creating little pick-up soccer games and that sort of thing, children can start to feel a sense of normalcy.”

Mercy Corps has three foreign relief workers on the ground in Myanmar, and another five staff members in China helping coordinate relief efforts with local workers.

The combined value of the relief supplies, shipping, and storage involved with the materials is more than a million dollars.