China Focus

China ready to send more rescue personnel to Haiti

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-17 19:28

BEIJING: While the Chinese rescue team is doing its mission in Haiti, more personnel and materials are ready to back up the rescue and medical aid in the quake-hit country, according to the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) Sunday.

Miao Chonggang, vice director of the CEA's department for disaster relief and emergency aid, said the department is keeping close contact with the rescue team at the front and can send more supports immediately if required.

Special Coverage:
Major Earthquake Hits Haiti

After more than 60 hours of search and rescue work, the China International Search and Rescue Team had finished its mission in the quake-destroyed United Nation headquarters in Haiti, according to the CEA.

The team, arriving in Port-au-Prince at 2 am local time on January 14, started working in cooperation with peacekeeping forces from Brazil and Nepal and rescue teams from the United States and France.

They had retrieved the bodies of some United Nations officials, including UN chief in Haiti Hedi Annabi, Luiz Da Costa, Deputy Special Representative of the UN general secretary in Haiti, as well as eight Chinese police officers.

The team also set up a medical assistance station to offer treatment for patients pulled out of debris and medical support to medical and security personnel.

The team will continue search and rescue work in other parts of Haiti according to the arrangements of the UN's coordination center, the CEA said.