Beijing - The Chinese government has hailed relief aid in the form of food, medicine, tents and medical teams dispatched by Indonesia and other countries to help the victims of an earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province recently.

"We are thankful for the assistance and attention of foreign countries and the international community that  sent relief aid in the form of food, medicines, tents and cash to help the quake victims," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said here on Tuesday.

He said  the assistance was quite useful for the victims because their conditions had not yet returned to normal.

Qin Gang said  logistics assistance and medical teams from various countries, including Indonesia, were still flowing in to help alleviate the  victims' sufferings.

Indonesia's humanitarian assistance in the form of food, medicines and tents worth US$1.5 million had arrived in Chengdu, China's Sichuan province.

Indonesia sent the humanitarian assistance in two stages. The first stage assistance weighing 19 tons of food, medicines and tents was airlifted by a B 727 cargo aircraft on May 23, 2008.

On May 24, 2008, Indonesia sent another batch of one ton of food, three tons of tents and three tons of medicines which were flown by a Hercules air force plane.

The Indonesian government would also dispatch a  team of 20 doctors to China to help the quake victims.

"The medical team is expected to  arrive in Lanzhou, Ganzu province, this week, to help injured or ailing victims," Rosmalawati Khalid of the Indonesian Embassy said here on Tuesday.

She said the sending of the medical team constituted the realization of the Indonesian government's commitment to helping the victims as part of the form of solidarity between the Indonesian people and their Chinese counterparts.

According to plan, the Indonesian medical specialists from various disciplines will be deployed directly to the quake location.

"The Indonesian medical specialists will help sick and injured victims. We have not  yet been able to decide how long they will  stay there," Rosmalawati said.

- Source : Antara News Agency, 28 May 2008