Intl aid continues to pour into quake-ravaged Nepal

BEIJING - Countries around the world are sending more aid to earthquake-ravaged Nepal, where millions of people are still in urgent need of disaster relief.

The death toll of Nepal's April 25 earthquake has risen to 7,365 with the injury number standing at 14,366, according to the Nepalese authorities that have started working out the scheme for reconstruction.

CHINA

China has earmarked two rounds of humanitarian aid worth 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) for Nepal.

A 62-member Chinese search and rescue team was among the first outside helpers to reach quake-hit areas in Nepal. They were followed by more teams from Chinese governmental and civil organizations, bringing with them much-needed life-saving equipment and materials.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Monday that the Chinese military has sent a 70-member team to Nepal to begin disease prevention work in quake-hit areas.

At Nepal's request, Chinese Armed Police Force troops also arrived in the country on Sunday from Zham Town, which lies near the Nepal-China border, to help repair the highway connecting China and Nepal.

The first shipment of 186 tons of emergency aid from the Chinese government arrived in Nepal on Saturday.

An aid team of 20 members sent by the Red Cross Society of China arrived in Nepal on Saturday, and the organization also provided 2,000 tents.

UNITED STATES

On Friday, the US State Department announced the deployment of helicopters to Nepal to support US humanitarian assessments and the delivery of supplies to hard-hit areas outside of Kathmandu.

According to a US State Department spokesman, helicopters chartered by the embassy in Kathmandu had rescued 17 US citizens in total from remote areas hit by the quake.

Since the quake, the United States, the world's largest economy, has provided $14.2 million in humanitarian aid, a somewhat petty contribution compared with the large amount of aid and relief materials it had provided for its strategic partners in Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines.

EUROPEAN UNION

In Brussels, the European Union's humanitarian aid chief Christos Stylianides has said that the European Commission had approved 16.6 million euros ($18.5 million) of financial support to Nepal and another 3 million euros ($3.3 million) of emergency aid, bringing total help so far to 22.6 million euros ($25.2 million).