ISLAMABAD — China on Nov 5 provided humanitarian supplies worth 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) to Pakistan for the relief of the earthquake affected people.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Sun Weidong handed over the supplies to Pakistan’s Information Minister Pervez Rashid at a ceremony held at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad.

A cargo plane reached Islamabad from Shanghai on the morning of Nov 5 with 300 tents, 20,000 blankets and 60 electricity generators.

An earthquake of 8.1-magnitude struck Pakistan on Oct 26, killing at least 279 people, wounding over 1,964 others and damaging 94,548 house and 497 schools.

On the occasion, the information minister said, “The government and people of Pakistan say thanks for timely humanitarian support for the earthquake affected people from our friendly Chinese government and people of China.”

“We are the friends of all the seasons; we have the same joys and grief. At all odd and difficult times, China always proved it as a good and true friend of Pakistan,” said Rashid.

Ambassador Sun said, “Chinese people and government feel the same pain and we will do our utmost to extend our support to the Pakistani people, and hope that these aid products will help Pakistan recover the losses and help the people rebuild their homelands.”

Vowing to carry on the tradition of China and Pakistan to help each other in each other’s difficult time, Sun also appreciated Pakistan’s support to China in the natural disasters.

Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan Maj. Gen. Asghar Nawaz said, “We thank China for sending aid at the time of trial. I can assure that the help China has rendered is the much needed help and it will be a befitting recognition of cementing the relationship between the two countries.”

Earlier on Oct 28, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) had also donated $100,000 to Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) for the earthquake affected people.

Chinese Embassy in Islamabad has also sent blankets, food items and bottled water to the affected people in the country’s northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Soon after the earthquake, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) helped Pakistan in clearing the routes and areas along the Karakoram Highway blocked by the land-sliding.