The first 400 of 1,000 tents provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headed for quake-stricken Sichuan Province in southwest China from Beijing's Nanyuan airport on Monday afternoon.

The tents, loaded on two airplanes, are expected to arrive at Shuangliu airport in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, at about 10 p.m.

Tents are urgently needed in Sichuan, where 4.8 million people were made hopeless by the May 12 earthquake. Earlier on Monday, China asked the international community to offer tents among other relief donations.

Besides the tents, UNICEF also sent 20,000 quilts and other items worth 430,000 U.S. dollars. All the goods will arrive in Sichuan in two or three days.

More relief materials from other UN organizations will be sent to the disaster zone soon.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)