By Lucy-Claire Saunders

The International Committee of the Red Cross has announced it will be sending Canada’s Yunhong Zhang to China in the wake of the deadly earthquake that rocked the Sichuan province and killed more than 50,000.

Zhang, a member of the Canadian Red Cross, will be stationed in Beijing as the program coordinator for the entire relief operation. She has the daunting task of coordinating aid assignments between the various Red Cross agencies around the world.

"I am proud to join those in the relief effort in China," Zhang told the Asian Pacific Post. "Everyone working at the Chinese Red Cross has been working around the clock. No one can even speak anymore their throats are so hoarse."

Millions of victims made homeless by the earthquake continue to live in makeshift shelters as aftershocks rattle the country.

The need for tents is vital, said Zhang, as rains are expected to sweep the quake-hit regions of the southwest and create "quake lakes," formed by landslides that block swollen rivers.

Zhang, who is originally from Beijing, has been manager of the Asia Program for the Canadian Red Cross for eight years and participated in relief operations after the Pakistan earthquake in 2005 and the Chinese floods in 2003.

The wife and mother of two said she has been working long hours since the earthquake on May 14 in her efforts to assist in the flow of information between Red Cross headquarters around the world, which are all in different time zones.

"When you’re in the field you have no time to plan. It’s 24/7," Zhang said. "But I would like to say how supportive my family has been through all of this. Although my son would like to see mommy stay, he and my family understand it’s simply the nature of my job."