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Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing Tuesday that China was "very grateful" for the humanitarian aid offered by the international community for its earthquake-hit Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in westernmost China.
According to Kong, the Chinese Government has not appealed to the international community but some countries have already expressed their willingness to provide funds and materials to aid the victims.
He added United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims.
"The Chinese Government will do its utmost to search and rescue those injured in the quake no matter what," said Kong.
The China Red Cross Society has set up a special bank account to accept donations in aid of the disaster areas. The account with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will accept donations from both at home and overseas. The account number is 02000010090144132-52. The society has also opened a 24-hour hotline for donations with the number 86-10-65139999.
A devastating quake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted the area at 10:03 a.m. Monday (Beijing Time), the spokesman noted, adding the latest official statistics showed that by the afternoon of Feb 25, a total of 266 people have been pronounced dead and more than 2,000 local people injured during the quake.
(From Xinhua News Agency and China Daily, February 26, 2003)
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