S'pore offers to help to China's earthquake disaster
Tue, May 13, 2008
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE'S Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday offered to provide disaster assistance rescue teams to China's earthquake recovery work.
He conveyed this in his condolence letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, expressing his sympathies to the quake-hit victims in Sichuan province.
'I was deeply saddened to learn of the great loss of lives and extensive damage caused by the sudden and deadly earthquake in Sichuan province,' PM Lee said in his letter.
He praised the Chinese government's 'swift relief and rescue efforts', saying he is confident that under Premier Wen's 'able leadership, China will be able to tackle the challenges ahead and overcome this disaster'.
Mr Lee added: 'Singapore stands ready to help in any way possible, including through our Disaster Assistance Rescue Teams (DART)', if China thinks it will be useful to the recovery work.
He hopes that the affected regions will return to normalcy in the shortest possible time.
A 7.8-magnitude quake rocked Wenchuan Country, 159 km northwest of the southwest Sichuan province's capital of Chengdu, at 2.30 pm on Monday, killing up to 10,000 people in eight affected provinces.
