A shipment of relief goods and materials provided by the Chinese government is on its way to a tsunami-stricken area of Indonesia, local government sources said in Tianjin, northern China port city.

The goods and materials, loaded into 535 standard containers, weigh approximately 7,000 tons and are worth more than 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million). The supplies were specifically requested by the Indonesian government to help build 60 schools, the sources said.

Each of the light-structure schools will be equipped with 15 classrooms, an independent shower, lighting and sanitary fittings and a bathroom.

The shipment, which started on Monday in Tianjin, is undertaken by a container vessel dubbed Zhonghai Xiamen, which belongs to the China Shipping Group. The ship is due to arrive at Klang of Malaysia on March 17 and at Palauan of Indonesia the next day.

According to Xia Yungui, deputy director of the Department of International Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, China has so far airlifted 11 batches of tsunami relief supplies worth nearly 100 million yuan (US$12.1 million) to Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Maldives, Somalia and Kenya.
 
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2005)