The United Nations refugee agency announced on Wednesday it would donate 11,000 tents to China to help its resettlement efforts in the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake.

The tents, valued at nearly 3 million U.S. dollars, will be transported to the quake-affected areas as soon as possible, said Antonio Guterres, head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at a breakfast with journalists in Geneva.

He said those tents could provide temporary shelter for up to 55,000 people in Sichuan, where the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake occurred.

In an interview with Xinhua, the U.N. official also praised the Chinese government's rapid response to the disaster. He expressed his belief that the Chinese people can overcome the tragedy.

He said the UNHCR had offered emergency aid to China shortly after the earthquake occurred. A total of 60,000 U.S. dollars had been donated to help China's relief efforts.

The UNHCR will continue to fully support China's relief and reconstruction efforts and stands ready to provide all kind of assistance within its capacity, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2008)