Two fire officers of the Fire Services Department of Hong Kong were deployed Tuesday morning to the earthquake-devastated area in southwest China's Sichuan Province to provide logistic support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)'s search and rescue team.

They left with about 1.5 tonnes of equipment including medical material, light-duty search and rescue tools, personal items for the team members and drinking water.

The city had offered a record amount of resources in the aftermath of the earthquake that occurred in Sichuan on May 12. The HKSAR government dispatched rescue teams comprising of firefighters, medical staffs and flying service staff to provide assistance in the rescue and relief efforts in Chinese mainland's quake-hit area.

The HKSAR government on Tuesday also approved a grant of 5 million HK dollars (640,000 U.S. dollars) from the Disaster Relief Fund to World Vision Hong Kong to undertake a relief project for earthquake victims in Sichuan Province of the Chinese mainland, bringing the total value of grants for these earthquake victims to 316 million HK dollars.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department has so far received 126 calls for assistance and 448 inquiries in the wake of the serious earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Most of the requests involved cases in which family members in Hong Kong failed to get in touch with their relatives on the Chinese mainland. Of the 101 Hong Kong residents who reportedly lost contact with their families, 96 had already re-established contact.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2008)