President Hu pledges all-out rebuilding efforts
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Chinese President Hu Jintao visited quake-hit Yushu in northwest China's Qinghai Province Sunday, vowing to help victims rebuild their homes as most of them now settle in tents with basic needs met.
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Chinese President Hu Jintao(C)speaks to soldiers of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and policemen carrying out relief work at Zhaxike Village of Gyegu Town in quake-hit Yushu County,northwest China's Qinghai Province, April 18, 2010. |
The 7.1-magnitude quake, which struck the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu Wednesday morning, had left at least 1,706 dead, 256 missing and 12,128 injured, as of 10 a.m. Sunday.
There will be new homes
In a morale-raising visit to quake-hit Yushu, Hu assured locals of new homes and schools and steadfast relief work.
"There will be new schools! There will be new homes!" Hu wrote in chalk on a blackboard in a makeshift classroom in a tent of orphaned students.
The president led the students in reading aloud the words he wrote on the blackboard.
The Yushu School for Orphans visited by Hu was the first one to resume classes. A total of 60 primary and middle school students and more than 10 teachers sang the national anthem before classes began at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The president also talked to an injured Tibetan man in a medical tent.
"The Party and the government care about all the victims of the quake. Doctors will give you meticulous treatment...The party and the government will help with a new home...You should have confidence and recover," Hu said as he held the injured man's hands.
The Tibetan man replied, "Thank you, General Secretary. Tashi Delek!" (Tashi Delek means good luck in Tibetan)
Hu's plane landed at Yushu's Batang Airport Sunday morning after an over-three-hour flight from Beijing.
The president, who returned to China Saturday from a shortened visit to Latin America, headed for worst-hit Gyegu Town in Yushu immediately after landing.
Concerted relief efforts continue
Chinese rescuers have saved a 68-year-old man who was trapped under earthquake rubble for 100 hours.
The old man was rescued at about 11 a.m. Sunday in Gyegu Town, Yushu, and his condition appeared stable, rescuers said. The man was later taken to hospital.
Rescuers had saved 17,000 trapped people and a total of 6,870 people had been pulled out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, among whom 6,110 survived, Miao Chonggang, deputy head of the China Earthquake Administration's quake relief and emergency response department, told a press conference.
Miao said currently more than 15,000 rescuers, including over 11,000 from the People's Liberation Army and armed police, 2,800 firefighters and special police forces, and 1,500 earthquake and mine accident rescuers, are still searching for quake survivors in Yushu.
Most quake victims had settled in tents and were provided with food, clean water and other basic needs, and those with injuries and illness could be timely treated, Zou Ming with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said at a press conference in Beijing on Sunday.
Hundreds of technicians were repairing damaged power and water supply lines in quake-hit Yushu in northwest China's Qinghai Province, local officials said Sunday.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Sunday vowed all-out efforts to help resume telecommunications in Yushu.
As of 7 a.m. Sunday, 42 of 185 mobile base stations had been unavailable as a result of disruptions to power and fuel supplies, according to the MIIT.
Ministry of Transport also vowed Sunday to spare no effort in ensuring smooth transportation to ensure speedy transfer of the injured and delivery of relief supplies.
Chinese disease-control experts joined with armed corps Sunday to begin large-scale disinfection of the debris and ruins.
The disinfection aims to prevent water pollution, marmot plagues and outbreaks of respiratory and intestinal diseases in the wake of the disaster, local authorities said.
China's quality watchdog vowed Sunday to conduct strict checks on the quality of quake relief materials to ensure safety of these products.
By 5 p.m. Saturday, it had checked 10,020 quilts, 5,023 cotton-padded overcoats, 6,086 tents, 100 mattresses and 10 wool comforters and ferreted out 420 overcoats padded with shoddy cotton among other inferior goods.
Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Saturday it would send 30 specially modified vans as mobile stores to the quake-hit zone.
The first 10 vans were to arrive at the quake zone in several days, followed by the other 20.
Social order in Yushu has remained stable, a Public Security Ministry official said Sunday.
No criminal cases, major traffic accidents, or major security incidents have so far been reported in the quake zones, Wu Heping, a spokesman of the Ministry of Public Security told a press conference.
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