Islamabad, Jan 25 (IANS) China on Monday handed over its second batch of relief goods worth 20 million yuan ($3.05 million) to Pakistan for the people affected by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake which hit the country on October 26 last year.
Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong and Major General Asghar Nawaz, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Pakistan attended the ceremony in Islamabad, Xinhua reported.
“China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners of cooperation sharing weal and woe. We can feel the sufferings of Pakistani people and stand firmly with them. We will do our utmost for their relief,” Sun said.
Appreciating the compassion of China for Pakistan and their commitment to stand alongside during difficult times, the NDMA chairman said: “China is the only country from which Pakistan has received aid following the earthquake that shows deep and sincere relations between the two brotherly countries.”
The second batch of relief consignment mainly include 2,950 tents for the earthquake-affected people.
China provided the first batch of humanitarian aid worth 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) shortly after the earthquake that killed 280 people and injured 1,770 others. The first batch included 300 tents, 20,000 blankets and 60 electricity generators.
China was the first country to provide humanitarian aid to Pakistan for the relief of the earthquake-affected people on November 5 last year.
Soon after the earthquake, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) had also donated $100,000 to Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for the earthquake-affected people.
The Chinese Embassy in Islamabad also sent blankets, food items and bottled water to the affected people in the country’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.