Singapore, U.S. pledge emergency aid to Chinese snow-ravaged regions

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Singapore and U.S. governments announced separately here Monday that they will provide emergency aid to China for its snow-ravaged regions.

Singapore's Ambassador to China Chin Siat Yoon pledged to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs 500,000 U.S. dollars in emergency aid.

Chin sent messages of deep sympathy and concern from Singaporeans to the Chinese people over the recent snow havoc in southern parts of the country.

Chin also expressed the belief that the Chinese government and people will be able to overcome the disaster caused by heavy snowfalls.

On the same day, the U.S. embassy told China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the U.S. government will give 150,000 U.S. dollars in emergency aid to China via the Chinese Red Cross.

The U.S. government expressed its wish that its Chinese counterpart and people can triumph over the disaster soon, and sent greetings to them for the upcoming Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year.

The worst winter weather in five decades in China has snarled the country's central, southern and eastern regions over the past three weeks and brought huge economic losses.

Statistics show that the snow has so far killed at least 60 people and forced the evacuation of nearly 1.76 million people. From Jan. 25 to 31, a total of 5.8 million passengers were stranded throughout the railway network and more than 8,000 cargo trains were affected.