Over 2,000 soldiers rush to quake-hit area for rescue

CHENGDU, April 20 (Xinhua) -- More than 2,000 soldiers were rushing to the area hit by a 7.0-magnitude quake in southwest China's Sichuan Province for rescue and relief work, military sources said Saturday.

The 2,000 soldiers were from the Chengdu Military Area Command (MAC). Meanwhile, two helicopters of the Chengdu MAC took off at 9:18 a.m from Jiajiang county to learn the developments on the ground.

The Chengdu MAC has already set up a quake relief and rescue headquarters.

It has also set up a medical relief team for the quake-hit region.