Peace Corps Volunteers in China Are Safe

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 12, 2008 – Peace Corps Volunteers serving in China are accounted for and safe.

Earlier today, an earthquake registering 7.9 on the Richter scale occurred 55 miles northwest of the Peace Corps/China office in Chengdu, Sichuan province. There are currently 111 Peace Corps Volunteers serving in China. Individual Volunteers and local counterpart schools have collectively reported that all Volunteers are safe.

Peace Corps/Washington is in constant communication with the staff in China and the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu and U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The Peace Corps will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation and take any additional action, if necessary.

I'm late in the game on this, but I truly only recently had the time to look up this information. You see, one of my bestest friends from high school is a Peace Corps volunteer in the Sichuan province, and, well, with all the seismic activity there of late, I've been worried about his safety. While we haven't heard from him directly (you can only imagine the problems with communication lines over there), I'm sure he's been in touch with his parents (at least).

But seeing this press release certainly eased my concerns considerably.