Chinese quake rescue team leaves Pakistan after mission

The Chinese relief team left here Thursday morning after an 11-day search and rescue operation in earthquake-hit areas in Pakistan.

The 49-member team, composed of rescuers, medical staff and seismological experts, discovered and pulled out three survivors from quake rubble and treated 591 wounded villagers in and around Balacot, one of Pakistan's most devastated areas from the 7.6 magnitude earthquake.

"As far as we know, we are one of the only two international rescue teams that have ever rescued survivors alive in Balacot. The other one is the French team," said team leader Zhao Heping, who is also deputy director of the China Seismological Bureau.

According to Zhao, China responded quickly to the massive earthquake and sent its team to Pakistan only 25 hours after the disaster struck on Oct. 8.

"We have judged the situation right. Balacot turned out to be nearly the most heavily stricken areas in Pakistan. We came here directly and of the over 20 international rescue teams, we were the first to arrive," he said.

The group, bringing with them six search dogs, eight tons of search equipment and nine tons of relief materials, was the fourth international rescue team that China had sent abroad since 2003.

Zhao said besides the rescue operation, they also sent five disaster evaluation reports to the United Nations relief coordination center, and the Chinese team also assumed the role of UN Rescue Mission Coordinator in the area. Every night, rescue teams from different countries gathered in the Chinese camp to share information and plan for next day's work.

Zhang Chunxiang, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistani, told Xinhua that the Pakistani side is very satisfied with the Chinese team's work here and has asked China to send more medical workers to its quake-hit regions. The country is now also contacting with China for future cooperation on earthquake-related issues.

Source: Xinhua