China's aid distributed among 420 needy families in W. Afghanistan

ZARANJ, Afghanistan, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan authorities have distributed China's humanitarian aid to 420 needy families in Afghanistan's western Nimroz province, provincial director for refugees and repatriation affairs Mawlawi Sediq Nusrat said Wednesday.

"In the provincial capital Zaranj city we started distribution of China's aid to 420 destitute families on Tuesday and the aid package includes one bag of 50 kg of rice to each family," Nusrat told reporters here.

"People are suffering due to poverty and unemployment in the cold weather, and receiving China's assistance at this stage would solve our problems to some extent," a resident of Zaranj city told Xinhua.

This was the third time in the past month that China's aid has been distributed to residents of Nimroz province.

China's aid was distributed to 6,000 families in Nimroz's neighboring Herat province last month.