Gary Lundstrom, executive vice-president of the US NGO Samaritan's Purse, said he wants his organization to function as "the other chopstick" in its aid efforts in quake-hit areas.
German doctor Joachim Gardemann checks a young girl's finger, which she injured in the quake, at a makeshift hospital in Dujiangyan, Sichuan province, May 25, 2008. [China Daily]
The American escorted disaster relief materials to the city of Deyang Sunday and pledged to work closely with municipal leaders in fighting the disaster.
He said that the municipal leaders and his NGO are "like two chopsticks".
"One chopstick can't pick up anything, but two are very good. We would like to be the other chopstick."
Two weeks on from the May 12 quake, aid continues to flow in from all over the world.
According to Ran Jingjun, an official of the Sichuan civil affairs department, relief materials from more than 40 countries, regions and international organizations have arrived in Sichuan, and more is on the way.
A special channel has been established at the airport of the provincial capital Chengdu, which allows foreign aid workers and their airlifted cargo and to pass through customs in several minutes.
Samaritan's Purse is the first foreign NGO to have airlifted relief materials to Sichuan in a chartered Boeing 747.