Photo taken on April 17, 2010 shows a press conference held together by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police in the quake-hit township of Gyegu, northwest China's Qinghai Province, on April 17, 2010. Soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army(PLA) and armed police have rescued 1,200 people and treated more than 8,700 injured in the quake zone as of 12:00 a.m. Saturday, according to PLA quake-relief headquarters. [Hou Deqiang/Xinhua]

Soldiers from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and armed police have rescued 1,200 people and treated more than 8,700 injured in the quake zone as of 12:00 a.m. Saturday, according to PLA quake-relief headquarters.

Li Jun, spokesperson for the PLA quake-relief headquarters said in its first press conference held here that more than 12,300 soldiers and armed police had been sent to the quake zone.

He said more than 11,300 had arrived to carry out rescue operations, among them, more than 7,100 were soldiers from the PLA and the rest armed police.

Soldiers from the major military commands in Lanzhou, Beijing and Chengdu, the PLA Air Force, the PLA's Second Artillery Corps, the PLA's General Staff Headquarters and the General Political Department were involved in the quake-relief endeavor.

Two professional rescue teams and more than 11,000 soldiers and armed police were in the quake zone to search for people buried in quake debris,help locate and transport bodies of the victims.

A total of 15 medical teams and 815 medical staff were in the quake-devastated area to help with quake-relief work, according to the spokesperson.

The PLA soldiers and armed police were also engaged in tasks such as hygiene and disease control, resettlement of people in the quake zone and transport quake-relief materials.