CHINA:US PRESIDENT George Bush yesterday offered to help China deal with the aftermath of its earthquake, including sharing detailed images of the devastated region taken by its spy satellites.
In a White House statement, Mr Bush said: "I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy. The United States stands ready to help in any way possible."
European governments, including Britain, as well as the major international aid agencies, are also ready to offer assistance, in spite of the pressures created by already trying to help with the aftermath of the Burmese cyclone.
Matthew Cochrane, a spokesman for the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said: "It is too early to say how much international help might be needed."
Beijing has not made any request for assistance from other governments or aid organisations.
China, unlike Burma and other countries in the region, has the resources, manpower and sophisticated disaster response teams capable of handling the emergency on its own.
The Chinese government has sent its own national disaster team and national search and rescue team to the stricken towns and villages to support local relief teams.
Beijing mobilised nearly 8,000 soldiers and police to help with rescue operations in Sichuan province and put it on the second-highest level of emergency footing.
Prime minister Wen Jiabao, who flew to the Sichuan capital, Chengdu, to oversee relief operations, called the quake "a major geological disaster".
An official at the US's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said its analysts were examining pictures from the region. The satellite-borne cameras are powerful enough to show damage to bridges, buildings, railways and tunnels. The Bush administration has offered similar images to other governments in the past to help organise rescue operations.
This is China's most destructive earthquake since the Tangshan event in 1976 that killed more than 240,000 people. China, still largely closed to the west at the time, refused help, partly out of national pride and partly because it was unwilling to allow an influx of foreign workers.
The People's Liberation Army, as well as training for war, spends more time than comparable forces elsewhere on civilian projects, particularly in preparing for such emergencies. The Red Cross has millions of volunteers throughout the country trained for disasters.
Cochrane said that a joint Chinese Red Cross and International Federation of the Red Cross team had flown from Beijing to the stricken area, but it had not yet reported back, partly because it had arrived during the night.
"The Chinese Red Cross is a massive organisation. It has millions of volunteers. They are used to earthquakes and have built up their capacity since the Tangshan earthquake," he said, adding that the country had had to deal with a huge flooding disaster last year.
Having to deal with Burma and China at the same time presented logistical challenges, he said, but the Red Cross had the resources.
A United Nations security council spokesman said: "There has been no sign of any request [from Beijing] yet." A spokeswoman for the British government's Department for International Development (Dfid) said it was monitoring the disaster in China but believed the country had the national capability to deal with it. "We are keeping an eye on it but we think they have a good response team," the spokeswoman said.
Gareth Owen, director of emergencies at Save the Children, said his organisation, which had a team on the ground in China, had been in touch with Beijing to offer help but China had not yet asked for assistance. - (Guardian service)