Speaker Louis Galea has written to Chinese ambassador Zharn Keyuan expressing the Maltese people’s sadness at the deadly toll of the strong earthquakes in the western Qinghai province last Wednesday.

“As the number of victims of quakes rises steadily whilst rescue workers search for survivors, you need to feel comforted even more by the closeness and the supporting presence of one’s friends and allies. Only thus can your agony be relieved, and your pain be eased.

“In these trying moments of dire anguish for you all therefore, allow me, Excellency, as Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta, to express to you and to your government the strong solidarity of Maltese parliamentarians and the Maltese at large towards the Chinese people...

“We are as one with you as you walk with heavy hearts through these sad times. May this affirmation of our togetherness with you offer you and your people fitting consolation.

“We shall not relent in praying for the victims of these tragic event, nor shall we falter in offering our sympathies to their families. Our beliefs in a better life in the thereafter reassures us that your compatriots’ suffering will not last forever,” Dr Galea wrote.