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2008-06-06 | Southwest China

But when the 12th May earthquake struck Sichuan, the Chengdu branch of his Bookworm chain transformed almost overnight from a cozy expat hangout to a hub for foreigners and locals doing their bit to help out in the disaster. It even became a place of refugee for people too scared of aftershocks to sleep at home.

"It just evolved," said Goff. "We were closed for two days after the quake. So during that time, I went to places like Dujiangyan and up towards Mianyang just to have a look around."

What he saw was thousands of people cold, hungry and seeking any shelter they could from torrential rain than hampered relief efforts for days after the quake. To Goff it was clear that despite the best efforts of the army and the Red Cross more help was needed. He quickly set up a collection depot at his Chengdu restaurant as well as at the two other Bookworms, in Beijing and Suzhou, where people could donate much needed supplies such as tents and bottled water and donate money to the relief fund. Goff and a team of volunteers then hired trucks and targeted areas most in need of help.

"We had the local knowledge," said Goff. "The 22 staff here are all from the affected areas and we have many friends and colleagues and associates who are from there. So we had the information coming down telling us which areas are well set up and which ones didn't have anything yet.

" We were able to fill in the gaps of the larger relief work."

The aid kept pouring in, from Chengdu and from around the country. Two weeks after the quake, the restaurant was still taking charge of supplies worth 300,000 RMB every day.

"We just got deluged after a few days. The three Bookworms were almost non-functioning because they were so full of materials and supplies."

To cope with the demand, Goff and his 60-strong band of helpers set up the Sichuan Quake Relief under which name the Bookworm’s aid efforts will operate and continue to raise funds and awareness in the long term.

On 1st June, International Children's Day, the fund took donated toys up to schoolchildren near the epicenter along with entertainers who played games with the kids.

Goff says the outpouring of support from Chengdu's expat community stems from the great shock triggered by the earthquake and the media images that went around the world. He also believes foreigners in Chengdu are closer to the wider community than in other Chinese cities.

"I think you get a lot of people here who are interested in China and who are interested in doing NGO work or environmental work, or studying various cultures and language. There are a lot of people here who are here for more specific China reasons, more so than in the bigger cities where you tend to have more of a business community."