Xizang strives to complete construction of required boarding houses for quake victims before Spring Festival

Workers build mobile houses in Quxar Township of Lnaze County in Xigaze, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, Jan. 10, 2025. A total of 400 mobile houses started to be built here on Friday in quake-affected Lnaze County as part of the disaster relief work after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Dingri County in Xizang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning. (Xinhua/Hu Xu)

A local official in Xigaze, Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region said at a press conference on Thursday on the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that jolted Dingri county that the earthquake-affected area is shifting from temporary to transitional resettlement, with the goal of completing the construction of required prefabricated houses before the Spring Festival.

Liu Huazhong, a deputy mayor of Xigaze, said that local authorities are coordinating various resources, fully organizing the allocation of prefabricated houses, personnel, and machinery, overcoming difficulties such as high-altitude hypoxia, strong winds and sandstorms, and working round the clock to advance the construction of the prefabricated houses.

Liu said that they are striving to complete the construction of the required prefabricated houses before the Spring Festival to ensure that the affected population can safely and warmly spend the winter.

Lhamo Drolma, a deputy director of the Civil Affairs Department of Xizang, provided an update on donations for earthquake relief efforts at the press conference.

As of 6:00 pm on Wednesday, a total of 1.6 billion yuan ($233 million) in donations had been received from various sectors of society, including 1.5 billion yuan in funds and 106 million yuan in materials. These resources are primarily being used for the relocation and resettlement of affected residents and to ensure their basic living needs.

The Civil Affairs Department of Xizang allocated 6.6 million yuan in central government financial assistance to Dingri in advance, ensuring the basic livelihood of 1,970 people in the disaster area.

Departments of natural resources, housing and urban-rural development, firefighting and transportation in Xizang responded swiftly to identify safety risks and hazards in disaster-stricken areas.

As of now, a total of 1,851 geological hazard points have been inspected across 76 townships in seven counties, including Dingri, Dingkye and Lhatse.

Wei Jun, a deputy director of the Emergency Management Department of Xizang, said that housing and urban-rural development departments had mobilized 123 professional institutions and 557 experts and technical personnel to inspect and assess 30,057 rural homes and public buildings.

At the same time, firefighting departments conducted 1,418 patrols at resettlement sites, addressing 1,901 of 2,206 fire hazards, with the rest under rectification. Transportation departments inspected 900 bridges, 47 tunnels, 4,468 culverts and patrolled 5,596 kilometers of highways.

Rescue efforts in the disaster-hit areas have recovered over 6.95 million yuan in cash. Wei said that the PLA and Armed Police recovered approximately 464,100 yuan in cash, 1,640 valuables and 29,466 other items.