Irish aid package for China quake

The town of Yingxiu in Wenchuan County Enlarge Image

The Irish government is to send one million euros in aid to help areas of China hit by Monday's earthquake.

About 10 million people in Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake that flattened entire villages, state media said.

Almost 15,000 people are known to have been killed, and another 26,000 are still trapped in the rubble.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin said the Irish rapid response initiative would also be on hand.

Teams of volunteer experts are ready to deploy with emergency stocks of relief goods including non-food items such as tents and plastic sheeting.

"Irish people feel a profound sympathy for the people of China at this terrible time and would like to offer their support," said the minister.

"We can only imagine the utter helplessness of those so suddenly bereaved."

Mr Martin offered the aid as he met Chinese Ambassador Liu Biwei to convey the Irish government's condolences.

Airdrops

China is mobilising 30,000 extra troops and 90 more helicopters to bring food and water to survivors, amid large-scale airdrops of food, clothing and blankets over the worst-hit areas.

Almost 50,000 soldiers and police have already been despatched to the region to dig any remaining survivors out of the rubble and bring food, medicine and drinking water to those made homeless.

The Chinese government has appealed to the public to donate basic equipment to help in the rescue operation. It said hammers, cranes, shovels and rubber boats were urgently needed.

The BBC's Dan Griffiths in Dujiangyan says the relief operation is massive, but there is little chance of finding anyone else alive.

The Chinese government says it has allocated another 250m yuan ($35m) for aid, bringing its disaster spending to 1.11bn yuan.

Members of the public have also donated millions of yuan in both cash and goods.

Footage of when quake struck, filmed by motorcyclist in Chengdu