The Ministry of Health and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention have called on 2,000 medical workers nationwide to join the disaster-relief work in southwest China, which was hit by a massive earthquake on Monday.

The first group of 24 teams for emergency medical treatment have already arrived. The second group of 27 medical teams, including 25 for emergency treatment and two for epidemic prevention, with more than 470 members overall, are ready to travel.

The 7.8-magnitude quake that jolted Wenchuan County in southwestern Sichuan Province on Monday afternoon has so far claimed 11,921 lives, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2008)