All victims of the February earthquakes in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will be able to move into new houses by the end of this month, local authorities said on Monday.

"By now 90 per cent of the victims have moved into their new homes built after the quake, and the rest are expected to move in before the coming of winter," said Mardan Mukyet, magistrate of Bachu County.

On February 24, Bachu and Jiashi counties in western Xinjiang's Kashi Prefecture were rocked by an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, followed by a series of aftershocks.

The earthquake killed 268 people and disrupted the lives of about 650,000.

Hardest hit was Bachu, where more than 93,000 rooms were destroyed or seriously damaged and 100,000 residents were left homeless. The total economic loss was 1.2 trillion yuan (US$144 million).

"Re-construction of civilian homes tops our post-quake work agenda," said Zhang Minggong, secretary of the Bachu County Committee of the Communist Party of China.

All 23,237 households affected by the earthquake moved into new homes by August 15, and the 710 households affected by the aftershocks will move into their new homes by September 20, according to Zhang.

Each affected household was subsidized from 4,000 to 12,000 yuan (US$482-US$1,446) for quake-related losses. The new homes, each with a floor space larger than 50 square meters, incorporate anti-seismic features and include heating facilities to endure the cold winter.

The 150 million yuan (US$18 million) cost for reconstruction of civilian homes in Kashi region was financed by government funding and social charities.

Hospitals, schools, and other public facilities have also been rebuilt, and government-funded reconstruction of mosques damaged in the quake is continuing.

(China Daily September 17, 2003)