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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China: Quake victims need millions of tents |
| 2008-05-23 |
| China's government has appealed for more than 2 million tents to shelter the estimated 5 million people made homeless by the huge earthquake as the death toll continued to rise. More than 55,740 people are known to have died in the 7.9-magnitude quake, centered in Sichuan province, with another 24,960 missing and 292,481 injured, authorities said. As of midday Friday, domestic and international donations to China's earthquake zone had reached $3.6 billion, or 24.6 billion yuan, according to State Council officials. So far, $273 million has been forwarded to the earthquake-affected areas, the office said. In the midst of the devastation caused by last week's quake, China's central government has announced it will allocate $10 billion to the country's reconstruction fund, according to state media. iReport: Send photos, videos of relief effort About 400,000 tents have been sent to quake-hit areas but many more are needed, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The central government has said it needs about three million tents to provide shelter for everyone who needs one. President Hu Jintao urged manufacturers to produce tents as quickly as possible on a visit to factories in eastern China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday, state-media reported. "I just came back from Sichuan and tents are extremely needed there," he said. "Every tent you produce can help several townsmen of yours." "We still face the arduous task of rescue and relief and we especially need lots of tents to accommodate homeless people," Hu Jintao said, according to Xinhua. "To produce more tents will be the greatest care shown to survivors and the greatest contribution to the rescue and relief." Premier Wen Jiabao said government spending will be cut by five percent this year to pay for rebuilding, China's Xinhua news agency reported. China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development called on local authorities to build 1 million temporary homes by early August to accommodate many of those left homeless, according to Xinhua. China's response has been praised by a top United Nations official, who said the government's willingness to seek international help highlighted the magnitude of the crisis. Earthquake relief efforts have prompted Chinese officials to postpone the penultimate leg of the Olympic torch relay to Beijing, organizers said. The two-day relay through Sichuan province, still reeling from the May 12 quake, will start August 3 -- less than a week before the torch enters the opening ceremony in Beijing, according to a statement from the city's Olympic organizing committee. The relay had been scheduled for June 15. Thursday ended an official three-day mourning period, which had temporarily halted the Olympic torch relay. ITN's John Sparks reported from China that the mourning period had appeared to unofficially mark the end of the search and rescue phase of the operations. Medical staff are now seeking to identify the bodies being found and reduce the risk of disease spreading from the rotting corpses, he said. However, massive problems remain trying to cope with the homeless, many of whom are concentrated in Sichuan's mountainous regions. Meanwhile on Friday, astonishing images were released showing the moment when a post-wedding photocall was interrupted by the quake. And a newspaper reported that another survivor lived through a far worse disaster more than 30 years ago. Alatanbagen Taoqi, 60, from China's ethnic Daur minority, was in an office building when it collapsed during the May 12 quake, The Nanjing Morning Post said. He was the only person in the building to survive, the report said. In 1976, he survived an earthquake in Tangshan city in northeast China that killed almost a quarter of a million people. He was trapped under a pile of bricks for 10 days before being rescued, the paper reported. Possibly one of the luckiest men on Earth! |
| Posted by:gorb |