Quake-affected families in west Afghanistan receive China-donated tents

HERAT, Afghanistan, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Over 280 quake-affected families in west Afghanistan's Herat province have received tents donated by China, said a government official on Monday.

According to Abdul Salam Barikzai, an official in charge of finance and management of the national disaster authority in the province, each quake-affected family received one tent in Zindajan district on Sunday and the process of aid distribution would continue.

"I am thankful to China for sending humanitarian assistance, especially to the quake-affected people. This aid can solve our problems to some extent. My house was destroyed and this (tent) can become a shelter for us," an aid beneficiary Abdul Karim told Xinhua.

China had sent 41 containers of humanitarian aid recently, and the process of distribution began on Sunday with giving tents to the quake-affected families in Zindajan, the official said, adding that other items including clothes would be distributed to the needy families after conducting a thorough survey in the affected area.

Two deadly quakes, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center, each with a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale followed by several aftershocks, rocked west Afghanistan with the epicenter in Zindajan on Oct. 7, causing thousands of casualties.