PLA announces rescue operations underway in Sichuan quakezone

Some 1,900 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army's Western Theater Command were dispatched to help with earthquake relief and rescue on Tuesday morning, following the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Luding county in Sichuan province on Monday.

A front-line command group reached Moxi township, the epicenter of the earthquake, after traveling for six hours overnight. The group has established contact with local governments and emergency management departments to gather emerging details of the situation and to implement a unified response, the theater command said in a news release.

Immediately after the quake on Monday afternoon, the Western Theater Command tasked affiliated authorities, including the PLA ground and air forces, the Sichuan Provincial Military Command, and the Tibet Military Command, with immediate rescue operations and told them to stand by for further mobilization.

Meanwhile, nearly 300 soldiers and militiamen were sent to the hardest hit towns of Yanzigou and Lengqi with tents, engineering shovels and other emergency materials to search the rubble, set up tented accommodation and take the wounded for treatment.

In addition, about 400 armed police officers equipped with emergency rescue equipment headed toward the epicenter by vehicle and on foot from two directions, reaching the severely hit towns of Moxi and Detuo three hours after the quake.

A further 100 soldiers from the Tibet Military Command were dispatched to the disaster, equipped with daily necessities and 12 rescue vehicles, including kitchen trailers and transport trucks, to support emergency responders.