ISLAMABAD, Nov. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- For earthquake survivors in mountainous Kashmir on the Pakistan side, life is a struggle with cold and hunger in which a tent can make a difference. It offers a basic instrument for the homeless desperate to find a shelter against chilly rains and winds, and brings warmth and a sense of security to their stricken hearts.

    Tents are needed, especially those brought by the Chinese, which are popular among the survivors for their durability and good quality, said Brig. General Iftikhan Ali Khan Wednesday, at the military headquarters in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

    He was speaking to a Chinese delegation led by Assistant Minister of Commerce Chen Jian in a conference room, its walls decorated with cracks.

    "People are looking for Chinese tents in whatever means because they are durable and warm. One will be very much pleased and even proud when he or she manages to get a Chinese tent," Ali Khan said in a briefing to the Chinese fact-finding mission about the situation after the Oct. 8 earthquake hit the city.

    According to Chinese embassy estimates, China has donated nearly 7,000 tents since the earthquake. And at least 10,000 more tents from China will arrive in Pakistan within November.

    After visiting a military hospital and a tent village in Muzaffarabad, the Chinese delegation flew to Balakot, another city severely damaged by the earthquake.

    The Chinese rescue team was the first foreign rescue team to arrive and set up a tent hospital in the city, some 200 kilometers north of Islamabad. It rescued three people alive from the debris and treated more than 590 patients during its first week-long stay.

    A second dispatch of the Chinese rescue team arrived at Balakot on October 29 and started to receive patients on the following day in field  hospitals. In the first three days, the Chinese doctors treated more than 280 people. The hospital in the Chinese tents are equipped with cardiograph, X-ray and type-B ultrasonic machines.

    Zhao Heping, head of the China International Search and Rescue (CISAR), told the delegation that the Chinese team had tent hospitals both in and around its camp and sent groups of doctors to remote mountainous areas where cars were difficult to reach.