Landslide kills dozens, Xi orders all-out rescue (4)

AFTERMATH WORK

Feng, secretary of Zhenxiong county commitee of the CPC, said 57 households threatened by possible new landslides had been relocated to a nearby primary school, emergency tents, or the residences of their relatives.

The government and provincial red cross society have sent 230 tents, 300 quilts and 300 coats to the disaster-hit area, in addition to hundreds of packages of food and mineral water.

The governments at provincial, municipal and county levels had earmarked more than 10 million yuan (about 1.6 million U.S. dollars) for the rescue and disaster relief efforts.

Each family of the victims could get an initial subsidy of 10,000 yuan. The identities of the dead will be confirmed by DNA tests and their relatives, said Liu Jianhua, mayor of Zhaotong City. He said the city had issued an emergency notice to thoroughly inspect disaster-prone areas.

Zhenxiong County is adjacent to Yiliang County, where 19 people, including 18 primary school students, were killed in a landslide in October.

In September, a series of earthquakes -- with the strongest registering a magnitude of 5.7 -- struck the region, leaving at least 81 people dead in Yiliang.

A cold front will move toward the region in the coming week, bringing rain and snow to Zhenxiong County, according to the Yunnan provincial meteorological bureau.

Provincial and local meteorological authorities have initiated an emergency response mechanism for major natural disasters.