A delegation of government officials and more relief supplies have arrived in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region to assist with the aftermath of the 8.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on Saturday, authorities said Monday.[Special coverage]
The team, consisting of officials from several departments, ranging from finance to public health and transport, will lend their expertise in helping the area recover from the earthquake.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs has allocated 20,000 thick tents, 30,000 cotton coats, 30,000 comforters, 15,000 cots and 15,000 sleeping bags to the affected areas in Tibet. The regional government has also sent tents, coats, food, medicine and drinking water.
The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Military Area has sent 400 tents, 120 tonnes of food and water, more than 10,000 quilts, 2,000 pairs of boots, 1,000 coats and medicine with a value of nearly 300,000 yuan (48,380 U.S. dollars), carried by more than a hundred military vehicles, to the affected areas.
A team of 38 PLA medical experts and more than 500 engineering soldiers equipped with heavy machinery have been dispatched to the disaster areas.
At least 20 people were confirmed dead, 58 people injured and another four missing in Tibet after the earthquake that struck neighboring Nepal on Saturday. Some 24,800 people have been relocated in Tibet's Xigaze City.
The quake shook Nepal at 2:11 p.m. (Beijing Time), killing at least 3,218 people in the Himalayan country, including four Chinese.
A team of 55 PLA soldiers left for Nepal on Monday to help with rescue operations. They arrived via a PLA Air Force plane that departed from Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province. Another team of 45 soldiers will leave for Nepal on Tuesday.
The team was selected from a group experienced in earthquake rescue missions and who participated in relief operations following the deadly earthquakes in Wenchuan and Lushan in Sichuan Province and Ludian in Yunnan Province in recent years.
The team will conduct rescue operations, provide medical aid and offer psychological counseling after arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.
Previously, 62 Chinese search and rescue volunteers, along with six sniffer dogs, arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday to become the first international heavy urban search and rescue team in the country, according to the China Earthquake Administration.
