SHIJIAZHUANG -- Over 200 Chinese and foreign rescuers participated in an international earthquake relief exercise held here under the framework of the United Nations.

Rescuers carry out emergency treatment on an 'injured' man after a simulated quake during a demonstration by the China International Search and Rescue Team in the Asian-Pacific Regional Earthquake Exercise 2006 in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, on Aug. 7, 2006. [Xinhua]

Local residents in Shijiangzhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei Province, also held an exercise on rescue and survival in an earthquake.

The drills served as a test of China's abilities to cooperate with international rescuers, an opportunity for Chinese rescuers to learn from their foreign counterparts, and to show off the country's achievements in earthquake relief, said Zhao Heping, deputy director of the State Seismological Bureau.

Rescuers search for survivors in the debris after a simulated quake during a demonstration by the China International Search and Rescue Team in the Asian-Pacific Regional Earthquake Exercise 2006 in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, on Aug. 7, 2006. [Xinhua]

Seventeen foreign teams came from Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, and Nepal.

Seventeen Chinese provincial rescue teams joined in the drills.

Rescuers search for survivors in the debris after a simulated quake a demonstration by the China International Search and Rescue Team in the Asian-Pacific Regional Earthquake Exercise 2006 in Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, on Aug. 7, 2006. [Xinhua]