Latest military technologies help quake rescue(2)

To help more quake-relief troops, the PLA's General Staff Headquarters has provided additional 260 sets of the Beidou system to the quake zones. At least 363 sets of the hand-held Beidou system have been equipped in the quake zones.

"Each squad has been equipped with the BDS terminal device so that the headquarters can locate them at any time and send out orders," Lang said.

In the early hours after the quake, the transport of injured people and rescue teams has largely depended on helicopters and planes.

With China's indigenous Beidou system, the quake-relief headquarters can not only acquire every rescue unit's real-time location and maneuver but also contact them even if telecommunication is cut off.

Air strength has played a vital role in rescue. Three hours after the quake, a cargo plane took off to ship a national rescue team to the quake-hit area while four emergency helicopter squads rushed to the worst-hit areas to locate and set up temporary helipads.

In the first 72 hours since the quake, the air force shipped about 900 people out and more than 120 tonnes of relief material into the quake zone.

Since roads to some remote townships and villages were frequently blocked by sliding rocks, the Air Force started the first airdrop operation on Monday, delivering food and water for thousands of homeless survivors.

"The efficiency of rescue and relief work is closely linked to the capacity of air support," said Cai Suwei, a senior Air Force officer commanding the rescue work. "We need to further improve the fast response capacity of the Air Force so as to minimize the casualty in natural disasters."

The military medical aid teams have also adopted new technologies to save more lives salvaged from under the debris.

A medical team from the Beijing-based PLA's General Hospital has brought a telemedicine system supported by satellite communications to field operation shelter vehicles in the quake zones.

Within the first 24 hours after the quake, a 12-year-old girl was saved from Baoxing County but her condition became critical due to internal bleeding.

Two surgeons of the medical team consulted on the girl's condition with more experts of the PLA's General Hospital in Beijing through the telemedicine system, who guided the surgeons to remove the girl's ruptured spleen.

One week before the quake, the Chinese government published a new national defense white paper to illustrate why and how the country employs its armed forces in a more diversified way in peace time.

The document stressed that participating in emergency rescue and disaster relief is one of the most important tasks for China's armed forces since it is one of the countries most vulnerable to natural disasters.

China has formed nine state-level professional emergency-response teams for flood relief, earthquake rescue and other emergencies, according to the white paper.

A total of 19,000 soldiers and officers from China's military and armed police forces have been sent to quake-hit areas in Sichuan since Saturday.