Multinational rescue teams held a meeting in Balacot, Pakistan on Tuesday night, deciding to set up a UN coordination office in quake-stricken Pakistan with the Chinese rescue team as the coordinator.

The Chinese team, the team from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Pakistani military representatives and Pakistani Peshawar medical team attended the meeting in the town of Balacot in Azad Kashmir, one of the most seriously hit areas.

Zhao Heping, chief of the Chinese rescue team, said that according to UN rescue practice, the team which arrives in the disaster-stricken area the earliest is normally designated to serve as the coordinator of the rescue efforts, because the team is most informed about the situation and has been working longer than other teams.

The meeting decided that the rescue work on Wednesday would still focus on searching for survivors.

The UN coordination office also made a decision that a coordinating meeting will be held in the Chinese camp at 19:00 local time (1400 GMT) every day to share information and plan for the work of the next day.

On Tuesday night, the Chinese and UAE teams conducted the first joint search and rescue mission.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2005)