Pakistan expects China's support for disaster management: official

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan is likely to ask for China's support in developing disaster management institutions and dealing with post-flood public health emergency situations, according to Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of Pakistan Inam Haider Malik on Monday.

A Chinese medical team consisting of 13 members including experts in the field of clinical medicine and health and pandemic prevention from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region visited the NDMA and conducted a work exchange with their Pakistani counterparts on Monday.

Malik welcomed and thanked China for its support and assistance after the devastating floods in Pakistan, saying that Pakistan expects to see the training of medical workers between Pakistan and China.

He said that China's medical support for Pakistan has helped the country to protect its people after the devastating floods.

Malik said that Pakistan is keen to learn from the visiting Chinese experts on how they use their "greater knowledge to address the challenges and enable your communities to pre-condition and pre-deploy your response actions in the affected zones."

Huang Wenxin, the head of the Chinese medical team, said that his team is ready to help the Pakistani people and work together in overcoming difficulties.

The Chinese medical team arrived in Pakistan on Oct. 28 and is expected to go to the flood-hit areas in Pakistan's southern Sindh province for field visits and work exchanges.

Pakistan is in urgent need of medical assistance as the flood water still remains in parts of the southern Sindh and the southwestern Balochistan provinces.

According to the NDMA and Pakistan's Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, a total of 1,735 people were killed and 12,867 others injured in the floods hitting the country, which affected over 33 million people and incurred a loss of over 40 billion U.S. dollars to the economy.