A Chinese rescue and relief team held a flag-raising ceremony Sunday morning in Pakistan's worst flood-hit area, marking the formal start of its humanitarian aid work in the country.

As the first foreign rescue and relief team to reach Thatta, one of the worst-hit regions in Pakistan, the 55-member Chinese rescue team, made up of experienced doctors and nurses, has set up a mobile hospital of tents at Thatta's police headquarters late Saturday to provide medical help to local people affected by the worst floods in Pakistani history.

Outside the headquarters, crowds of local people, mostly women and children, thronged the gate waiting for medical treatment.

Soon after their arrival at the district late Friday, the Chinese team immediately started its rescue and relief work. By Sunday noon, about 260 patients had received treatment.

"China, good," said Gulhassan, one of the injured who was waiting outside. "But for Chinese doctors, many more would have died of injuries," he said.

People in Thatta, a major city in southern Sindh and also the base of disaster relief operations for local authorities, are facing a new threat as floodwaters inundated Sujawal, a large town in southern Pakistan, on Sunday.

Almost all of Sujawal's 250,000 residents fled.

The Chinese rescuers said they would do whatever they could to help the flood victims.

"The team members should show professionalism and provide best help for flood victims," said Huang Jianfa, head of the Chinese team.

For Zhu Jing, a 24-year-old nurse and the youngest in the team, the trip to Pakistan means an unusual experience in her career. "It is my first time to conduct international relief operations abroad, I feel proud," she said.

The floods in Pakistan began in the mountainous northwest about a month ago with the onset of monsoon rains, inundating vast swathes of prime agricultural land and damaging or destroying more than 1 million homes.

The devastating floods have killed at least 1,600 people, affected over 20 million and destroyed 900,000 homes. More than 8 million people are in need of emergency assistance across the country.

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2010)