Special report: Strong Earthquake Jolts SW China

    LIMA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President Alan Garcia visited the Chinese embassy here on Monday to express his condolences to victims of the massive earthquake that hit China's southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12.

    After signing the condolence book, Garcia met with Chinese Ambassador Gao Zhengyue to express the sympathies of the Peruvian people.

    Garcia said that he will summon concerned institutions to send a shipment of humanitarian aid to the disaster-hit region.

    "It is always important that human beings know how to be brothers and send their spiritual and material aid to those who are suffering," said the Peruvian president.

    He said his country is fully aware of the pain that China is going through as Peru itself faced a similar situation when a 7.5-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Peru on Aug. 15, 2007, leaving huge casualties.

    Recalling the assistance China offered to Peru after last year's earthquake, Garcia said Peru's assistance to China "constitutes a good way to express the solidarity of the Peruvian people" with their Chinese counterparts.

    He hoped that the Chinese people will "know that on the other side of the world they have a brother country." These are the thoughts he expressed to the Chinese ambassador and asked him to convey to Chinese President Hu Jintao, Garcia added.

    Over 34,000 people have been confirmed dead in last week's earthquake, which measured 8.0 on the Richter scale.