Russia sends humanitarian aid to quake-hit China

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Russian Emergencies Ministry plane has delivered over 13 metric tons of humanitarian aid to the quake-hit Sichuan province in southwest China, the ministry reported on Sunday, April 28, according to RIA Novosti.

“At 07:00 a.m. Moscow time [03:00 a.m. GMT], an Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane of Russia’s Emergencies Ministry delivered 13.5 tons of humanitarian aid to the Chengdu airport in China,” the ministry said in a statement.

The 7.0-magnitude quake struck the Lushan county of Sichuan's Ya'an city last week, killing about 200 people and injuring over 13,000. The earthquake impacted over 2 million people.

In May 2008, the Sichuan province was struck by an 8-magnitude earthquake, the worst tremor to hit China in three decades, killing some 70,000 people and displacing 10 million. China's direct economic losses from the earthquake exceeded one trillion yuan (around $150 billion).