L.A.-area Chinese mobilize for quake relief

Hours after the massive earthquake struck China, John Cheng and his colleagues at the Chinese American Federation sprang into action.

Cheng, president of the group and the manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes, helped organize a news conference for the Chinese American media Monday afternoon at a Monterey Park restaurant. The group announced a quake relief fundraising drive. So far, it has raised $10,000 – including $1,000 that the Diamond Bar resident himself donated.

It was one of several fundraising campaigns underway by Chinese American groups.

“A lot of people in the Chinese community are starting to give online,” he said. “I am still very shocked” about the magnitude 7.9 quake.

Cheng said he would never forget the 1976 earthquake in Tangshan, China. He was living in Jiangsu near Shanghai at the time.

“We lived outside for six months in a tent. We were too scared to go inside,” he said. “We didn’t know when it could come back. I remember half the country lived outside.”

Elsewhere today, Burbank-based Walt Disney Co. announced today that all members of a film crew near the quake’s epicenter were safe and accounted for.

“We are enormously grateful that everyone connected with our production escaped unharmed, and our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have suffered or lost loved ones during this time of great loss and sorrow,” Disney said in a statement.

Many leaders of the area’s Chinese community scrambled to organize relief efforts as soon as word of the earthquake surfaced. Sue Zhang, chief organizer behind the Beijing Olympics Rose Parade float this year, said she had been on the phone with community leaders all Monday morning to plan a fundraising event. She hopes to announce a weekend concert soon, with proceeds going to quake victims.

She said the community had been galvanized in recent weeks by a string of rallies defending China’s policies and promoting the Beijing Games.

“Everyone feels like they need to do something,” Zhang said.

Mei Mei Zhou, president of the Southwest China Assn., said she was going to solicit donations for relief efforts soon and would contact officials in her home province of Sichuan to determine what they need.

“Even though we are overseas, we are from the same root,” Zhou said. “Our hearts are together and we feel sorrow.”

Chen Shijie, a spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, said his office had been flooded with calls from mostly local Chinese asking how to donate money to aid the disaster victims.

The consulate also received a call from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office expressing sympathy and an offer to help. Chen suggested that prospective donors contact the Red Cross or send money to the consulate.

“We will ensure it gets to the disaster area,” he said.

 david.pierson@latimes.com