Chinese Doctor Ding Tao treats a 2-year-old Indonesian
girl injured in the tsunami onslaught. China has sent three medical teams to
Banda Aceh to help in the relief work. ¡ª Reuters/Xinhua
An aircraft carrying 15 million yuan (US$1.8 million) worth of humanitarian
aid left Beijing yesterday afternoon bound for Medan in Indonesia.
The
Ministry of Commerce said the material included medicine, food and electrical
generators.
Wang Hanjiang, head of the ministry¡¯s Foreign Aid Department,
reported that China¡¯s assistance to other tsunami-hit countries will be
delivered within the next few days.
Shortly after the catastrophe struck, the
Chinese government offered 21.63 million yuan in aid to the countries in the
disaster area.
And last Friday, Premier Wen Jiabao added 500 million yuan to
the effort.
Several Chinese relief and medical teams have left for Thailand
and Indonesia to search for victims and treat the injured.
A team of 14
doctors left Beijing yesterday for Sri Lanka. The team is the third sent by
China following one each from Shanghai and Guangdong.
The group is composed
of medical workers from the Beijing Municipal Center for Disease Control and
Prevention and Beijing Friendship Hospital. It is made up of experts in
epidemics, internal medicine and orthopedics.
Another medical team was
expected to leave Beijing tomorrow.
The Hong Kong government said yesterday
that deaths involving its residents may rise to six.
Deputy Secretary for
Security Michael Wong said that 60 Hong Kong residents had lost contact with
their families in Hong Kong, 49 fewer than the 109 reported on Saturday. Among
the missing, 41 had been traveling in Thailand, one in Sri Lanka and seven in
Indonesia.
Wong said that a 160-member government support team is in Thailand
providing aid to Hong Kong people there.
No Chinese causalities have has
been reported in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, the Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka
said yesterday.