China will deliver humanitarian aid worth 30 million yuan (US$4.41 million) to the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the Ministry of Commerce announced Friday.

A chartered flight loaded with the first batch of emergency materials, including medicines, tents, food, emergency lights, clothing and water, would depart from Beijing on Saturday morning, said a ministry statement.

China sent an emergency rescue team on Wednesday evening to Haiti, where tens of thousands of people are buried under debris after the 7.3-magnitude earthquake, the strongest quake in about 200 years in the Caribbean island country, on Tuesday.

China's Red Cross Society has pledged US$1 million in emergency aid.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2009)