Quake-hit China town starts largest rehousing project for survivors (2)

Nor did they say how many people the new homes would accommodate.

The first two home rebuilding projects in Yushu began in May, on the debris of the quake-leveled villages of Trangu and Ganda. The county government said construction would be completed soon and about 500 families would move in around the end of this year.

The state-owned Sinohydro Corporation, the prime contractor of the new project, promised the buildings would be well insulated to keep the residents warm in the bitter winter. Sinohydro is one of four state companies that have offered a helping hand in the rebuilding.

Gyegu covers 808 square km and sits on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with an average elevation of 4,000 meters. Temperatures easily drop to freezing at night during the winter.

The rehousing project will take up to three years, so most of the homeless would be temporarily sheltered in quilted tents this winter. The provincial civil affairs department said about 50,000 such tents would be delivered to Yushu before the end of September.

Pre-fab homes, widely used for survivors in the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, had been mostly ruled out for Yushu because they were too expensive and would seriously damage the plateau environment.
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