Some senior foreign diplomats and representatives of international organizations who were invited by the Chinese government to Sichuan on Tuesday were impressed by the disaster relief and reconstruction work in quake-hit southeast China.

"The situation here is encouraging," said Yin Yin Nwe, representative of the UN International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), as he watched children singing at the Wanchuan School in the suburb of Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province.

The Wanchuan School is a temporary facility for seven kindergartens, primary, middle and high schools that were closed due to the quake.

Invited by the Chinese government, some 30 senior diplomats and representatives of UNICEF, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Movement and the European Union, came to the affected areas at the first anniversary of the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 69,000 people, left nearly 18,000 missing, more than 374,000 injured and millions homeless.

"The students here are very active and glad to answer the questions of the ambassadors," Nwe said, noting the UNICEF will continue disaster relief cooperation with Chinese authorities till2011.

Holding the hand of 12-year-old Zeng Jianzhao, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to China Yahya A.S. Alzaid was happy to see the young student resumed studying.

"When we Russians were suffering, our Chinese friends extended their helping hands. Now, we could step up international cooperation on disaster relief for the people in the other parts of the world," said Razov Sergey, Russian ambassador to China.

Russia sent 22 planes carrying humanitarian aid to China on the wake of the devastating quake, as well as a rescue team and a medical team to Sichuan.

Cuba also sent a medical care group to China, which was a "chance for Cuba to show our friendship with the Chinese people," said Cuban Ambassador Carlos Miguel Pereira.

Also at the Wanchuan School, Daniel Piccuta, minister of the United States embassy in Beijing, said it was "very impressive" that the Chinese built such a "quite and clean" school in such a short time.

"It's very heart-warming and I have strong emotion towards here," Piccuta said, noting that one of his friends has adopted a three-year-old orphan who survived the tragedy.

German Ambassador Michael Schaefer praised the China's disaster relief work, saying the quick and transparent response of the local authorities helped the international community to draw out assistance plans, and the wide coverage of Chinese media offered the world good materials for analyzing the situation to decide what kind of aid was most needed.

He said the allocation of international aid could be further improved, though it's effective in general.

China and Germany could carry out cooperation on quake forecast and the establishment of an early warning system, he said, adding that symposiums and workshops have been held between German and Chinese institutes.

Japanese Ambassador Yuji Miyamoto was impressed by the mobilization and organization of the Chinese people and the government when tackling the quake.

"Soon after the quake, so many Chinese provinces or regions came offered help to the affected areas, that's impossible in Japan," he said.

"My last visit to Sichuan was in January, and now, so many changes have taken place in just four months," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2009)