Shanghai Daily news

Fifteen local medical professionals leave for Phuket Island to provide first aid and help with disease prevention.  The group is Cina's first medical aid team dispatched to the tsunami-stricken area and will be joined soon by units from Beijing, Guangdong and Shandong provinces.

A 15-member medical team left Shanghai for Phuket last night to lend much needed assistance to rescue efforts on the wave-ravaged resort island in Thailand.
The group was expected to arrive early this morning and begin giving immediate first aid.
Also yesterday, local travel agencies released refund procedures for those whose trips have been canceled.
The Shanghai team is China's first medical aid unit to be sent to areas devastated by Sunday's earthquake-triggered tidal waves in southern Asia. Other groups from Beijing, Guangdong and Shandong provinces were scheduled to set off soon. Another local team made up of about 10 professionals is now on standby, awaiting orders from the Ministry of Health.
Authorities said the team that left the city yesterday is staffed with well-trained, experienced professionals. Nine members are from local disease prevention and control centers and the others work at Zhongshan Hospital and Shanghai No. 6 People's Hospital.
"We received an urgent order from the ministry, and the team was established within one hour," Chen Zhirong, director of the Shanghai Health Bureau, said yesterday.
As the only female and the youngest member of the team, Zheng Jili, a 26-year-old surgery department nurse at Zhongshan Hospital, said she isn't afraid.
"I've received a great deal of training in first aid. After experiencing the fear of SARS, there is nothing that can scare me now," she said.
Wu Ping, who works at the Hongkou District Disease Prevention and Control Center, is among those with prior experience in mass disasters.
"I've taken part in many medical rescues such as the big earthquake in Tangshan in Hebei Province in 1976," he said.
His wife and family strongly support Wu's mission, though they are worried about his safety.
On the travel front, local residents who booked tours to the tsunami-stricken areas can claim a full refund for visas, air tickets and hotel deposits, according to the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission.
Those who planned to travel to places other than Sri Lanka, Phuket, the Maldives and certain parts of Malaysia can also receive a full refund if they haven't applied for a visa and if the airlines agree to comply, the commission said.