April 20, 2013, was an unforgettable day for the people of Ya'an, Sichuan. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake completely shattered the original tranquility of this quiet, peaceful, and beautiful hometown of giant pandas. The safety of residents was threatened, and property suffered significant losses. In the face of this natural disaster, the resilience of the people of Ya'an moved countless Chinese people. Eight months later, despite the orderly reconstruction efforts supported by various parties, today Ya'an still tugs at the heartstrings of millions.
On December 19, 2013, Alibaba, in collaboration with One Foundation and caring merchants including CAMEL, organized a trip to the Ya'an earthquake disaster area to conduct a return visit and public welfare mission, bringing the most sincere blessings to the affected communities.
The unforgettable disaster brought pain but could not extinguish hope. Immediately after the disaster, rescue operations were swiftly and effectively launched across the country. To address the urgent shortage of supplies, many enterprises mobilized and delivered much-needed materials to the disaster zone. On the afternoon of April 20, 2013, CAMEL became the first outdoor brand to respond to the relief effort by donating emergency supplies worth one million yuan, including tents, waterproof jackets, and sleeping bags, to the Ya'an earthquake-stricken area. In the evening, upon learning that the disaster situation continued to worsen, CAMEL Outdoor decided to donate an additional one million yuan in relief supplies. A total of two million yuan worth of urgently needed supplies were loaded onto trucks overnight and, escorted by CAMEL volunteers, rushed to the disaster area without delay.
After more than half a year of recovery, the lives and work conditions of the affected people remain a concern. This return visit to Ya'an aims to bring warmth and blessings to the people in the cold winter. CAMEL will deliver warmth packages to residents in the Ya'an disaster area through home visits. For those affected, psychological rebuilding is far more important than the reconstruction of infrastructure such as homes and roads. Prior to this trip, CAMEL launched the “Travel with Love” themed campaign on its official Weibo, collecting messages of blessing for the people of Ya'an from netizens. “Travel with Love” not only brings love and warmth to the affected people, encouraging them to be braver and stronger during the rebuilding process, but also calls on more compassionate individuals to pay attention to and send blessings to the disaster area.
During this return visit to Ya'an, the team will also visit two rebuilt schools to engage in in-depth interactions with teachers and students. In post-disaster reconstruction, the restoration of education is of utmost importance, and CAMEL places great emphasis on the physical and mental growth of children in the disaster area. During the earthquake relief period, a group of children wrote thank-you notes in little notebooks and gave them to CAMEL. The children's simplest expressions of gratitude brought the deepest emotion to the CAMEL team.This time, as part of the “Travel with Love” trip to Ya'an, CAMEL will also deliver small New Year gifts to the children in the disaster area.