PLA and APF send 6,300-plus troops to do quake relief in Qinghai

(Source: PLA Daily) 2010-04-15
PLA and APF send 6,300-plus troops to do quake relief in Qinghai

Rescuers carried by three IL-76 transporters of the PLA Air Force arrive in the earthquake-hit Yushu of northwest China’s Qinghai Province and immediately plunge into quake relief operation. (Photo by Liu Yinghua)

　　The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police Force (APF) unswervingly implemented the important directives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Central Military Commission (CMC) and President Hu Jintao and immediately plunged into the earthquake relief operation in Yushu Prefecture of northwest China’s Qinghai Province. Currently, a total of 6,390 PLA and APF troops have been put into the quake relief actions.

　　After the occurrence of the earthquake reaching 7.1 on the Richter scale in Yushu County of Yushu Tibet Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, the General Staff Headquarters (GSH) and the General Political Department (GPD) of the PLA wasted no time to make a deployment of the military participation in earthquake relief. 105 servicemen from the PLA Yushu Military Sub-Command and 700 servicemen from the Armed Police Qinghai Contingent were the first relief forces to rush to the epicenter.

　　At 16:05 on April 14, carrying 9 sniffer dogs and two rescue vehicles, the national emergency rescue team consisting of 60 servicemen of an engineer regiment of a group army under the Beijing Military Area Command (MAC), 30 medical workers from the General Hospital of the Armed Police Force and experts of the China Earthquake Administration (CEA), two IL-76 transporters took off and flew to the quake-hit area.

　　The PLA Air Force also sent one IL-76 transporter to send 100 rescue personnel from the State Administration of Safety Work Supervision and disaster relief facilities to Yushu. At 19:56 on April 14, all the 3 IL-76 transporters arrived in Yushu, and the rescuers started earthquake relief operation immediately.

　　The PLA Navy also sent one aircraft to fly from Mianyang of Sichuan Province to Yushu of Qinghai Province to cooperate with experts from the Institute of Remote Sensing Applications under the Chinese Academy of Sciences to monitor disaster situations.

　　Currently, the troops have rescued 1,045 persons from the rubbles and dug out 107 remains of quake victims. The military medical workers have given treatment to 2,038 wounded people.

　　At wee hours of April 15, a rescue team composed of 300 servicemen from a reserve engineer regiment and a reserve anti-chemical regiment was scheduled to arrive at the quake area and 180 servicemen from a base of the Second Artillery Force (SAF) of the PLA were supposed to arrive at the disaster-hit area at 08:00 of April 15.

　　At 10:00 this morning, 30 medical workers from the General Hospital of the Lanzhou MAC flew to the disaster-hit area by taking a civil passenger plane.

　　75 medical workers from the No. 22 Hospital of the Qinghai-Tibet Military Service Station Department of the General Logistics Department (GLD) and a 170-member earthquake emergency rescue team of Gansu Province with the soldiers from the Armed Police Gansu Contingent as the main force is scheduled to arrive at 17:00 and 150 servicemen from a battalion of the Ganzi Military Sub-Command in Sichuan Province are expected to appear at the quake-hit area at 18:00.

　　According to a responsible officer of the Office of the PLA Leading Group for Handling Emergencies, the State Council General Headquarters for Earthquake Rescue and Relief has 8 subordinated working groups with the Lanzhou MAC, the APF and the Operation Department of the GSH in the disaster rescue group and the GLD in the sanitation and epidemic prevention group.

　　By Dong Qiang

China's Premier Wen Jiabao (C) waves to ethnic Tibetans during his visit to the earthquake-hit Jiegu Town of Yushu County, Qinghai province April 15, 2010. The death toll from a strong earthquake in China's remote and mountainous Tibetan plateau has climbed to 617, even as convoys of trucks carried in supplies and tents on Thursday for survivors braving the cold. REUTERS/Alfred Jin