The picture shows China earthquake aid being loaded on to an Israeli cargo aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday.
An Israeli cargo plane left Ben Gurion Airport for the city of Chengdu with humanitarian aid for victims of the earthquake that struck the Sichuan province in southwestern China last week. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated the aid effort, collecting more than one and a half million dollars, a million of which were donated by Israel Corporation, headed by Idan Ofer, and its subsidiaries, and half a million by Jewish philanthropists Diane and Gilford Glazer, through the United Israel Appeal.
The plane carried about 90 tons of medicines and medical equipment, water purification kits, generators, tents, sleeping bags, and clothing intended for the earthquake survivors.
As soon as the extent of the disaster became known, the Israeli embassy in Beijing turned to the local Foreign Ministry and offered help in the form of Israeli evacuation and rescue teams and a field hospital. The Chinese government thanked the embassy staff for the offer but at this stage preferred help with acquiring basic equipment to house the hundreds of thousands of survivors left homeless.
[Isranet photo]
