The Chinese government has decided to donate one million U.S. dollars of emergency assistance to the Bangladesh government for the relief and rehabilitation activities in the country's cyclone-hit areas.

 

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Zheng Qingdian informed this when he met with the Foreign Adviser of the Bangladesh caretaker government Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in Dhaka on Monday.

 

As the sever cyclone Sidr ripped through the country and caused grave loss of lives and property, Chinese government and Chinese people are very concerned about the disaster and the well-being of the cyclone-hit people, Zheng said.

He said, China, as the closely neighbor of Bangladesh, has decided to donate one million U.S. dollars to support Bangladesh's efforts to conduct relief and rehabilitation activities.

 

Iftekhar said he was very grateful for the Chinese government for the emergency support. He believed the Bangladeshis can surely conquer the disaster with the kind help from China as well as others.

 

Ambassador Zheng also handed over 50,000 U.S. dollars provided by Red Cross Society of China, to the Red Crescent Society of Bangladesh for the disaster relief work.

 

The deadly cyclone Sidr that hit Bangladesh's coastal district last Thursday night so far killed 2625 people. It was one of the fiercest cyclones that had hit the region of Bangladesh in the 131 years between 1876 and 2007.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2007)