Quake survivors in NW China battling low temperatures

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Quake survivors in NW China battling low temperatures

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Survivors from twin tremors that jolted Zhangye City of northwest China's Gansu Province are battling freezing temperatures before sufficient cotton-padded tents and other relief materials reach the area.

The earthquakes, measuring 6.1 and 5.8 on the Richter scale, rattled areas between Minle and Shandan counties of Zhangye City late Saturday, killing nine people and injuring 43 others.

With relief materials on the way, survivors from the tremors are living a hard life, especially during the night when temperatures drop to five to six degrees below zero. Cotton-paddedtents are sorely needed, local officials said.

At present, at least 1,600 cotton-padded tents are needed in quake-hit areas of Shandan County, said Lin Xuefeng, deputy magistrate of Shandan. Minle needs at least 4,000 more tents to shelter its survivors, according to Zhou Minxia, head of the publicity department of Minle County.

In Yaozhai Village of Yonggu Township in Minle County, one of the hardest-hit villages, where all houses were damaged by the quakes, people had to spend the freezing night inside wheat stacks, tractors and barrows. People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers helped local villagers build 40 makeshift shelters for children, the elderly, and sick people.

According to statistics from the Zhangye City government, the twin quakes affected 46,491 households, flattened 14,322 houses and caused damage to 45,950 houses in the two counties.

Immediately after the quakes, experts, PLA soldiers and medical workers sent by the China Seismological Bureau, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and local governments in the jolted areas rushed to the affected areas to rescue survivors and search for the dead.

The first batch of cotton-padded tents sent by the Gansu Provincial Civil Affairs Bureau arrived at Shandan at 11 p.m. Sunday, followed by 220 more tents on Monday.

As of Monday night, Minle and Shandan had received over 500 tents, 25 tons of coal and 10 tons of food, said Zhang Zhengqian, a senior official of Zhangye City.

All the injured people have been hospitalized and are receiving treatment in local hospitals. More medical workers were sent to the disaster areas to help treat those who were injured during thequakes and who fall sick.

Zhang Zhengqian, a senior with Zhangye City, said that the city government had allocated 6,000 boxes of 537 kinds of medicines valued at 1.68 million yuan to the jolted areas. "The medicines are sufficient," said Zhang.

To date, there is no report of disease spread in the jolted areas.

Li Ke, director of the Gansu Provincial Seismological Bureau, said that Gansu is a quake-prone province where two seismic belts run through. The juncture area between Minle and Shandan counties, which was hit by the twin tremors late Saturday, is located in the central part of the Qilian Mountain seismic belt.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, over 400 after-shocks had occurred in Minle and Shandan counties as rescue and repair work continued.

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