Disaster Relief Work Going Smoothly in Quake-hit Area

A total of 1 million yuan (about 120,481 US dollars)-worth of disaster relief goods and emergency funds have been sent to Yanyuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, which was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.8 degrees on the Richter scale on May 24.

Governor Zhang Zhongwei and Deputy Governor Ma Kaiming rushed to the disaster area immediately following the quake to direct the rescue work.

Sources said that the people in the disaster area are in good spirits, local social order remains stable and the disaster relief and rebuilding work are going smoothly.

The quake jolted 10 townships in Yanyuan and Muli counties, in the Yi Autonomous Prefecture of Liangshan, killing one person and injuring 39 others. The total population affected by the quake is more than 48,000.

The quake also caused the collapse of 974 houses, and damaged 23,600 houses and 45 primary and middle schools. Twenty schools were closed, and several transportation and electricity transmission routes and water conservancy facilities were also interrupted by the quake.

Xinhua reporters saw that in the disaster area many farmers are working in the fields, and tents have been set up in villages where houses collapsed during the quake. Relief funds, grain and clothes have reached the quake victims.

Some schools have resumed classes, and more than 30 injured persons are being treated in local hospitals, Xinhua journalists saw.

As of June 2, a total of 236 aftershocks have hit the area, according to the local seismological administration.

Sichuan has allocated another eight million yuan in relief funds for Yanyuan and Muli counties to rebuild transportation facilities, help the victims and conduct disaster prevention in mountainous areas.

13 Seriously Injured

Thirteen people were seriously injured in an earthquake which jolted Shidian County, in southwest China's Yunnan Province, early Friday morning.

The tremor, measuring 5.3 degrees on the Richter scale, also killed more than 120 domestic animals, sources said.

Shaking Shidian at 02:03 am (Beijing Time), the quake is the third tremor to hit the county so far this year, following two on April 10 and April 12, measuring 5.2 degrees and 5.9 degrees respectively, on the Richter scale.

Heavy rain accompanying the Friday earthquake is still falling at press time. Chen Zifeng, secretary of the county committee of the Chinese Communist Party, said this has added difficulties to the disaster relief efforts, while the local authorities and people are working hard to deal with the aftermath of the previous two earthquakes.

The two April quakes have claimed the lives of three people, affected more than 600,000, and damaged 200,000 homes, 800 school buildings and 990 water conservancy facilities, according to Chen.

The Yunnan provincial government has sent a working group to quake-hit area, and major leaders of Baoshan Prefecture and Shidian County are already there to direct the rescue work.






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