Three people died and 38 were injured in a strong
earthquake?that measured 6.1 on the Richter scale, which
struck Dayao County of southwest China's Yunnan
Province Thursday night.
About 593,000 local residents in 14,000 households have been
affected by the quake, which made some of their houses collapse and
cut off communications and traffic circulation.
The provincial and local governments and army soldiers are
sparing no effort in disaster relief.
President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have attached great
importance to the disaster, calling on local governments to try
every possible means to make the people in disaster-hit areas have
access to necessary supplies.
Preliminary information shows that more than 2,000 households
suffered damages in the five counties of the Chuxiong Yi Autonomous
Prefecture.
The Ministry of Finance on Friday allocated 10 million yuan
(US$1.2 million) to help the people from the disaster-hit areas to
get necessary supplies.
Local residents were busy rebuilding their houses, after a July
earthquake caused significant damage in the area.
Local officials feared the number of casualties might continue
to rise.
"It was difficult to calculate the casualties since the quake
occurred at night,'' according to a Xinhua quote from Prefecture
Magistrate Ye Libin.
All the deaths were reported in Tanhua township, which was
struck by a strong quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale earlier
this July, killing 15 and injuring 294 people.
Liuju township, which neighbors Tanhua, is roughly 180
kilometers from the provincial capital of Kunming, which also felt
the tremor.
The provincial government has allocated disaster relief
materials for quake-hit areas, including 1,100 tents and 2,000
quilts.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs has allocated 5,000 tents to the
area, and a special team sent by the ministry has arrived in the
region to help the disaster relief efforts.
(China Daily October 18, 2003)