153 tents from U.S. arrive in quake-hit Sichuan Province

BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) -- A cargo flight carrying 153 giant tents donated by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. embassy in Beijing said.

The tents, measuring 10.97 meters in length and 5.48 meters in width, can house about 18 to 20 people.

The all-weather tents could provide half-permanent houses to about 3,000 locals in quake-hit areas, said the embassy.

The relief materials, including the transport costs, are worth 900,000 U.S. dollars.

The embassy said the tents would be handed over to the Sichuan civil affairs bureau and sent to the quake-stricken areas.

Before the arrival of the tents, three U.S. Army flights ferried emergency relief materials, professional equipment and a team of training experts sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development to Chengdu.

This batch of relief materials, including previous donations of 00,000 U.S. dollars to the Beijing International Federation of Red Cross, has raised the U.S. government's relief assistance to a total of 3.985 million U.S. dollars.