Chinese President Hu Jintao has ordered all of the country's
military forces to continue to support the reconstruction work in
disaster-hit areas.
Armed forces should actively participate in the reconstruction
of disaster-hit areas to help locals get their lives back to
normal, according to a circular jointly issued by the General Staff
Headquarters and the General Political Department of the People's
Liberation Army (PLA).
They should help local government to provide enough food,
clothing, shelter and transport to victims, it said. Local troops
that were affected by the snow disaster should be helped as well in
their own reconstructions.
Nanjing Military Command has sent 10,000 soldiers to the eastern
Jiangxi Province to carry out power system maintenance and
reconstruction.
Chengdu Military Command has sent 5,000 soldiers and officers,
100 trucks and three helicopters to repair and rebuild power
systems and restore transport in the southwestern Guizhou
Province.
The Second Artillery Corps currently has 300 electronic
engineers repairing the transmission line in the central Hunan
Province.
By Feb. 11, China's military had sent 6.43 million soldiers and
officers and 18.69 million militias to help in the
reconstruction.
By Monday, the military and armed police forces had donated 123
million yuan (about 17.6 million U.S. dollars) and 15 million
items, including warm winter clothes.
Hundreds of military medical teams were also sent to about 40
transport hubs along the railway line connecting Beijing and
Guangzhou and the highway connecting Beijing and southern city of
Zhuhai, to provide urgent medical care for travelers. About 200
military medical teams were sent to counties and villages in the
snow-affected areas to help the locals.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2008)