Pak sends relief goods to quake-hit China

Islamabad, May 16 : Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority today dispatched a C-130 flight containing relief goods for the quake-affected people of China.

The death toll in China due to quake is learnt to have crossed 15,000, even as more than 25,000 people are still feared to be buried under the debris, after the quake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit the country on Monday.

The relief goods include tents, blankets, plastic mats, medicines and mineral water.

The flight carrying the relief goods departed for China this morning, after it was seen off by Pakistan Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal and Chinese ambassador in Islamabad.

According to the paper, the relief material was sent to China on the instructions of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Meanwhile, even as the death toll crossing 15,000, Chinese officials warned of further calamities from broken rivers and dams strained to bursting point in areas where rain has been forecast over the next few days.

Authorities warned that dams could burst, bringing further damage to life and property.

Landslides had blocked the flow of two rivers in northern Qingchuan county, forming a huge lake in a region where 1,000 have already died and 700 are buried, Xinhua said. "The rising water could cause the mountains to collapse. We desperately need geological experts to carry out tests and fix a rescue plan," The Nation quoted the county's Communist Party chief Li Hao as saying to China's state news agency, Xinhua.

ANI