About 180,000 people have been displaced and 90,000 houses have
collapsed following the earthquake in Yunnan Province, according to the Ministry of
Civil Affairs.
At least three people, including a four-year-old boy, were
killed and 313 injured in the quake that hit the tea-producing
Pu'er City and its surrounding area early on Sunday morning, when
most people were in bed. Twenty-eight seriously injured people are
still receiving treatment in the hospital.
The area has been rocked by 1,026 aftershocks, three of which
measured more than 3.0 on the Richter scale with the largest
registering 5.1. Experts warn of the possibility of more
aftershocks.
More than 2,000 army troops and armed police have joined the
rescue efforts in the county.
"The power and water supply, telecommunications, and government
office buildings were seriously damaged in the quake," said Kong
Chuizhu, vice governor of Yunnan.
Among the resettled, 65,000 were evacuated from the badly
affected Ning'er County. Most of those are living in tents or
public places.
A total of 536,000 local residents were affected by the
disaster.
More than 90,000 houses collapsed and 270,000 others were
damaged, incurring a direct economic loss of 2.5 billion yuan
(about US$327 million), it said.
The county has organized eight teams of 34 workers to carry out
disinfection work in the worst hit towns to prevent any epidemic,
according to Yang Tianyi, director of Pu'er City.
"There have been no reports of an epidemic outbreak in the
region, but we face a shortage of disinfectant," Yang said.
President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu have asked provincial government
officials in Yunnan "to mobilize all resources available to treat
the injured and minimize the losses of lives and property of the
public."
A disaster-relief team, dispatched by the State Council, arrived
in Pu'er on Sunday to direct the relief efforts.
Meanwhile, another team of experts dispatched by the Ministry of
Communications will arrive in Yunnan on Tuesday to help with the
reconstruction of damaged roads and bridges.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance have
earmarked a living subsidy of 27 million yuan (about US$3.5
million) for the affected people. A total of 15,000 tents have been
transported to the disaster area.
The most difficult aspect of the disaster relief work is the
water shortage. "The tap water supply has been cut off, and the
people there can only drink bottled water," said Liu Bin, a
publicity official from Pu'er City.
Ning'er County, covering 3,670 square kilometers, has a
population of 190,000. It has reported nine quakes measuring five
or above on the Richter scale in its history, with the strongest of
6.8 on March 15, 1979.
(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2007)
