Chinese aid pours into Philippines' typhoon-hit areas

MANILA - China's aid has kept pouring into hardest-hit areas in central Philippines as death toll and cost of damages by super typhoon "Haiyan," locally named "Yolanda," spiral.

The 73 million pesos (or 10 million Chinese yuan) worth of relief goods, which included 10,000 blankets and 2,600 tents, each capable of housing 6-10 people, arrived in Cebu city, a disaster relief distribution center, on Monday and Tuesday respectively and had been turned over to the Philippine side, Chinese embassy in Manila said Wednesday in a press release.

China is also sending more than 80 doctors and nurses to the Philippines' disaster area. The first batch left for Manila Wednesday afternoon.

A charted plane will bring 2,000 tents, medicines and medical devices to the disaster area on Saturday.

The Chinese government is also sending Navy Peace Ark Hospital Ship, the first 10,000-ton class hospital ship in the world, to the Philippines for medical aid. Peace Ark is equipped with 300 ward beds of various types, including 20 ICU ward beds, 109 ward beds for serious injuries, 67 burn ward beds, 94 regular ward beds and 10 beds of quarantine ward.

China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a well-known non- governmental organization (NGO) named after the late Chinese honorary president, is busy preparing 200 mobile houses valued at 22.4 million pesos, which will be donated to Leyte, East Samar, and Bohol provinces, the embassy said.

The Chinese companies based in the Philippines have been mobilizing their staff including local ones to extend relief helps to the victims. The Association of Chinese Companies in the Philippines has donated 7.5 million pesos for buying three payloaders which are much-needed for clean-up of the disaster areas.

Huawei Co., an international front-runner of telecom industry and a major partner of Philippine telecom company Globe, has been working around the clock in restoring the lifeline of communication in typhoon-affected areas.

China National Grid Co., the technical partner of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), has donated $100,000 to the disaster area. It also offered a helping hand in restoring the power system of the typhoon-hit areas.

The Chinese embassy also joined the government's efforts in donating 1.2 million worth of emergency supplies, including radios, emergency lights and flashlights to Leyte and Samar directly.