President Hu Jintao has ordered all of the country's military forces to continue to support the reconstruction work in disaster-hit areas.

Armed forces should actively participate in the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas to help locals get their lives back to normal, according to a circular jointly issued by the General Staff Headquarters and the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

They should help local government to provide enough food, clothing, shelter and transport to victims, it said. Local troops that were affected by the snow disaster should be helped as well in their own reconstructions.

Nanjing Military Command has sent 10,000 soldiers to the eastern Jiangxi Province to carry out power system maintenance and reconstruction.

Chengdu Military Command has sent 5,000 soldiers and officers, 100 trucks and three helicopters to repair and rebuild power systems and restore transport in the southwestern Guizhou Province.

The Second Artillery Corps currently has 300 electronic engineers repairing the transmission line in the central Hunan Province.

By February 11, China's military had sent 6.43 million soldiers and officers and 18.69 million militia to help in the reconstruction.

By Monday, the military and armed police forces had donated 123 million yuan (about US$17.6 million) and 15 million items, including warm winter clothes.

Hundreds of military medical teams were also sent to about 40 transport hubs along the railway line connecting Beijing and Guangzhou and the highway connecting Beijing and southern city of Zhuhai, to provide urgent medical care for travelers. About 200 military medical teams were sent to counties and villages in the snow-affected areas to help the locals.

(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2008)