Foreign rescuers get the OK

BEIJING - After days of refusing foreign relief workers, China has accepted offers from four countries to send in rescue teams.

Hours after saying it will accept a Japanese rescue team, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement early today that specialist crews from Russia, South Korea, and Singapore would be welcome as well.

For decades, the communist government has refused outside expertise in disaster relief operations, preferring to rely on military mobilizations. After Monday's quake, the government initially said it welcomed foreign aid, money, and goods but not international rescue workers.

The Japanese team is made up of firefighters, police officers, technicians, and medical and other personnel.

About half of its 61 members arrived in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu early today.

A 29-member Russian team, including rescue workers and medical staff, was also preparing to help search for survivors and clear rubble, the Xinhua News Agency said.

South Korea has 41 rescue workers and more than 20 medical staff on standby. The size of the contingent from Singapore was not immediately known.

China has received international aid worth more than $100 million and materials worth more than $10 million, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said yesterday.

Still needed are tents, clothes, communication equipment, machines for disaster relief, and medicines, he said.