Why can't China supply themselves with the tents they were asking for...?

It's a very sad case what happened to the Chinese people during the recent earth quake. Millions remained homeless and the Chinese governement was asking nations for millions of tents to provide temporary shelter. However, most of the tents imported into the US and in many parts of the world were mostly made in China. So instead of shipping the product overseas and then asking to donate them back, would it not be quicker and more practical to simply supply the victims with the product mostly manufactured in their own country?