Army airdrops disaster relief goods to Sichuan_English

Soldiers from the People's Liberation Army carry relief materials after their arrival in the quake-stricken Wenchuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2008. A strong quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Wenchuan at 2:28 p.m. on Monday.

Soldiers from the People's Liberation Army carry relief materials after their arrival in the quake-stricken Wenchuan County in southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2008. A strong quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Wenchuan at 2:28 p.m. on Monday. (Xinhua Photo)
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BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Around 4:00 p.m. Wednesday, an aerotransport of China's air force airdropped for the first time five tonnes of disaster relief materials, including mineral water, milk, instant noodles, into Mianzhu City in quake-stricken Sichuan Province.

China will also airdrop cell phone equipment into Wenchuan County, the epicenter of Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake, on Thursday morning to restore communications.

A small base station will be installed by then, military sources said without elaboration.

PLA soliders carry the relief supplies onto a cargo-aeronef heading for the earthquake-affected areas in Sichuan Province to drop the urgently-needed food and relief supplies, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, May 13, 2008. China poured more troops into the earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday to quicken a search for survivors as time ran out for

PLA soliders carry the relief supplies onto a cargo-aeronef heading for the earthquake-affected areas in Sichuan Province to drop the urgently-needed food and relief supplies, in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, May 13, 2008. China poured more troops into the earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday to quicken a search for survivors as time ran out for thousands of people buried under rubble and mud.
(Xinhua Photo)
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Seven People's Liberation Army (PLA) helicopters had delivered 12.8 tonnes of disaster relief goods to Wenchuan and its neighboring counties as of 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

The goods included satellite communication systems, medicine and quilts.

According to the Chengdu Military Area Command, the first two helicopters airdropped food, drinking water and medicine to Yingxiu Township of Wenchuan County at Wednesday noon.

The helicopters also carried 47 injured people to hospitals, military sources said.

An army unit equipped with mobile phones was helicoptered into Wenchuan, which has been cut off, the military sources said.

China planned to parachute troops and supplies into Wenchuan on Tuesday but cancelled the operation because of thunderstorms and heavy rain.

The death toll from Monday's major earthquake in Sichuan has risen to 14,463 by 2:00 p.m. Wednesday.