The 35-member Chinese Rescue team arrived at Banda Aceh on New Years Eve. The capital of Indonesia's Aceh province is the area worst devastated by the tsunami. The Team is now working hard to help local authorities get medical care to the injured and search for the victims of the disaster.

"Our team has treated more than 900 injured people, of whom 130 are seriously wounded, and there are 20 whose situation is extremely severe." Said the team leader Zhao Heping.

However, thousands more are still waiting for them, many of whom are women and children.

"We are so sad, though we are used to seeing all kinds of patients in the hospital before we came here. Facing this great number of victims is really heart-breaking" A team member Wu Min described the tragic scene.

The China International Search and Rescue Team has put up tents and set up small-scale portable hospitals, in which basic medical treatments, diagnosis and surgery can be carried out.

Meanwhile, a group of searchers from the rescue team are helping the local government find bodies under the remains of collapsed buildings.

One of the searchers is Yuan Benhang. He says the team is better-equipped and more experienced this time compared with when they went to Iran to do search and rescue work last year.
 
"This time we've taken all aspects into consideration, including our provisions and equipments, such as the chemicals we need to replenish our physical strength."

The length of their mission depends on the needs of the disaster area.

Indonesia was the worst hit by the December 26 earthquake and ensuing tsunamis. The Indonesian health ministry puts the country's dead at 94 thousand. But this figure could still rise substantially as the ministry says there may be as many as 100 Thousand deaths in Aceh and North Sumatra alone.

The confirmed death toll across the 11 affected countries has reached 145 thousand, including 7 thousand foreign tourists.

(CRI.com January 4, 2005)