The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRCRCS) will try its best to help flood-affected areas in China, an official with the organization said Monday.

Niels Juel, regional relief delegate of the IFRCRCS Regional Office for East Asia, pledged assistance when inspecting flood damage in Xuyi County in Jiangsu Province, east China.

The visiting group was made up of representatives from the IFRCRCS and the China Red Cross Society (CRCS), including Sun Aiming, CRCS vice-president, and Thorir Gudmundsson, director of communications and marketing of the IFRCRCS.

They have inspected the evacuation situation around the county, suspended highways, and damaged embankments.

Preliminary statistics show that by July 13, a total of 530,500people had been affected in Xuyi, 126,911 people had been relocated and 39,396 hectares of crops had been destroyed in which11,350 hectares would give no yield this year.

The delegation will go on visiting other flood-affected areas in Jiangsu and Chuzhou City in neighboring Anhui Province.

(Xinhua News Agency July 14, 2003)