Ghana consoles China on devastating earthquake

Accra, May 20, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday conveyed the condolence of the Government and people of Ghana to China, following the May 12 devastating earthquake that struck the nation. More than 50,000 people are estimated to have been killed with hundreds of thousands injured when the powerful earthquake turned large parts of the Sichuan Province into rubble.

The earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale is said to be China's worst natural disaster in three decades.

The Chinese Government has declared three days of national mourning for the dead from Monday, one week after the devastation. President Kufuor said Ghana sympathized with China for the calamity that had befallen it.

Signing a book opened at the Chinese Embassy in Accra, he wrote:

"On behalf of the Republic of Ghana and its Government and myself, I pay condolence to the bereaved nation of China on the calamity that has befallen the great nation through the loss of numerous citizens in the recent natural disaster."