Over 200 Chinese and foreign rescuers participated in an
international earthquake relief exercise held in Shijiazhuang under
the framework of the United Nations.
Local residents in Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei
Province, also held an exercise on rescue and survival in an
earthquake.
The drills served as a test of China's abilities to cooperate
with international rescuers, an opportunity for Chinese rescuers to
learn from their foreign counterparts, and to show off the
country's achievements in earthquake relief, said Zhao Heping,
deputy director of the State Seismological Bureau.
Seventeen foreign teams came from Australia, Belgium,
Switzerland, India, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, the Netherlands,
New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Singapore, the
United Kingdom, the United States and Nepal.
Seventeen Chinese provincial rescue teams joined in the
drills.
(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2006)
