GENEVA – Around 3.3 million tents were urgently needed to provide emergency shelter for the victims of the Chinese earthquake.

The Office for the UN Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)said the tents were a priority after around five million people were left homeless.

The 12 May earthquake in Sichuan province in south western China has left an estimated 56,000 dead and 29,000 missing.

The Chinese Red Cross appealed Friday for 100,000 tents. Up to 18,000 tents had been already supplied by the society from its regional stocks in the quake zone said Jenna Clarke of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"The federation is mobilising its international network to try to collect the tents," said Clarke.

[dpa / Expatica]