Japan to offer 100 mil. yen in emergency aid for quake-hit China+

TOKYO, April 15 Kyodo - Japan decided Thursday to provide up to 100 million yen in emergency grant aid to China after a remote area in a western part of the country was hit by a powerful earthquake the previous day, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The aid, offered in response to a Chinese request, is expected to be used
mainly for medical supplies and related materials, a ministry official said.
The quake, which rattled Qinghai Province on Wednesday morning, has left more
than 600 people dead and about 9,000 people injured.
Meanwhile, a Japanese doctor who is a member of Medecins Sans Frontieres left
Japan for China the same day for a fact-finding visit to the quake-hit area.
''We don't know what is happening there, so I would like to find out what is
needed,'' Daiki Murakami, a 35-year-old surgeon, said at Narita airport. Three
other Japanese doctors also left for China on Thursday.
==Kyodo