Tokyo - Japan's government is assembling relief supplies as
it awaits a request from China to dispatch rescue teams to
earthquake-stricken Sichuan province, media reports said Tuesday.
Food, water and blankets are being readied while rescue teams and
helicopters are on standby to fly to the south-western province to
help tens of thousands of earthquake victims. Medical teams are also
on call.
China is 'our neighbour and is suffering significant damage, so we
would like to do whatever we can for them,' Foreign Minister Masahiko
Komura said. 'On the other hand, we'll have to see what kinds of
requests there are because some countries want to do things
themselves. We'll be ready to respond anytime.'
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday that Japan
might send its Self-Defence Forces to help China's local rescue
efforts as soon as the government would receive a request.
The Japanese Red Cross, in the meantime, has also started
preparing to dispatch doctors and nurses as well as sending relief
funds, the Jiji Press news agency said.
The Red Cross has already received requests from its branch in
China for personnel, mobile communication tools, food and medical
goods.
The magnitude-7.8 quake hit Monday, killing more than 9,000 people
and leaving at least 10,000 people buried in one city alone under
collapsed buildings.
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