Chinese army donates relief to snowstorm-hit Tibet

China is sending relief aid to three regions of Tibet which have been hit by snowstorms, Xinhua news agency reported from Lhasa on Sunday.

The agency said "large quantities" of aid donated by the Central Military Commission and the Chinese army were being sent to the prefectures of Nagqu and Ari in north Tibet, and Shigaze in south Tibet.

The aid includes 2,000 fur overcoats, 4,000 cotton-stuffed quilts, 6,000 cotton-stuffed coats, 80 tents and 20,000 candles .

Xinhua said that since mid-September last year, when Nagqu was hit severely by heavy snowstorms, the armed forces had made "great efforts" to assist affected areas.

Xinhua reported last week that Tibet was this winter experiencing its heaviest snowstorms since records began.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.