China launches massive quake zone reconstruction
By Lindsay Beck
CHENGDU, June 5 (Reuters) - China, facing emergencies ranging from swollen lakes to rehousing millions after last month's devastating earthquake, is looking to the future, planning a huge reconstruction of schools, homes and hospitals reduced to rubble.
The May 12 quake centred in southwest China's Sichuan province killed 69,122 people with 17,991 more missing and likely dead, according to the latest official figures.
More than 15 million residents have been displaced and tent cities have been going up across the ravaged region as the usually sweltering summer settles in, making life far from comfortable and raising fears of epidemics.
Only 25 percent of damaged shops have managed to reopen over three weeks after the disaster, the Commerce Ministry said. The government has said reconstruction would take up to three years.
The State Council, or cabinet, looked to the future, passing draft regulations on reconstruction, outlining requirements for resettlement sites and safety standards of public buildings like schools and hospitals.
In one of the most poignant dramas unfolding after the disaster, tension has flared between local officials and parents whose children were killed in a disproportionate number of school collapses.
Premier Wen Jiabao hosted Wednesday's meeting after the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction stressed in a circular that infrastructure restoration was a priority.
"Local governments must organise personnel to conduct safety appraisals of all school buildings as soon as possible to ensure the safety of students as they return to school," Xinhua news agency said, quoting the circular.
More than 9,000 children and teachers died under school buildings, according to figures compiled by Reuters.
SCHOOL EXAMS POSTPONED
The annual National College Entrance Exams for high school students are scheduled to start across the country on Saturday, but they have been postponed for a month for some 96,000 teenagers in 40 quake-hit counties in Sichuan.
The Education Ministry has ordered universities to recruit more students -- two percent higher than the original quotas -- from the quake area, many of whom have had to study in makeshift classrooms in tents.
Troops and disaster officials have also been seeking to defuse threats from dozens of unstable "quake lakes" created by quake-caused landslides choking rivers and endangering hundreds of thousands of people downstream.
Water levels on the largest one, Tangjiashan, kept rising and the chance of the natural dam made of mud and rock bursting was increasing, though the risk would be "controllable" as more than 250,000 people had been evacuated, Chinese media reported.
Hanwang, one of the hardest-hit towns, was evacuating thousands to safe ground as forecast heavy rain over the weekend raised fears of more landslides and the bursting of quake lakes.
Hopes for the 19 people aboard a military helicopter that crashed on a May 31 relief mission have dimmed, after rescuers scrounged the area of high mountains and valleys for five days to no avail.
Soldiers even scanned the bottom of a reservoir with reconnaissance equipment. The 19 included five crew and 14 injured quake survivors and medical workers. (Writing by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Nick Macfie)
CHENGDU, June 5 (Reuters) - China, facing emergencies ranging from swollen lakes to rehousing millions after last month's devastating earthquake, is looking to the future, planning a huge reconstruction of schools, homes and hospitals reduced to rubble.
The May 12 quake centred in southwest China's Sichuan province killed 69,122 people with 17,991 more missing and likely dead, according to the latest official figures.
More than 15 million residents have been displaced and tent cities have been going up across the ravaged region as the usually sweltering summer settles in, making life far from comfortable and raising fears of epidemics.
Only 25 percent of damaged shops have managed to reopen over three weeks after the disaster, the Commerce Ministry said. The government has said reconstruction would take up to three years.
The State Council, or cabinet, looked to the future, passing draft regulations on reconstruction, outlining requirements for resettlement sites and safety standards of public buildings like schools and hospitals.
In one of the most poignant dramas unfolding after the disaster, tension has flared between local officials and parents whose children were killed in a disproportionate number of school collapses.
Premier Wen Jiabao hosted Wednesday's meeting after the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction stressed in a circular that infrastructure restoration was a priority.
"Local governments must organise personnel to conduct safety appraisals of all school buildings as soon as possible to ensure the safety of students as they return to school," Xinhua news agency said, quoting the circular.
More than 9,000 children and teachers died under school buildings, according to figures compiled by Reuters.
SCHOOL EXAMS POSTPONED
The annual National College Entrance Exams for high school students are scheduled to start across the country on Saturday, but they have been postponed for a month for some 96,000 teenagers in 40 quake-hit counties in Sichuan.
The Education Ministry has ordered universities to recruit more students -- two percent higher than the original quotas -- from the quake area, many of whom have had to study in makeshift classrooms in tents.
Troops and disaster officials have also been seeking to defuse threats from dozens of unstable "quake lakes" created by quake-caused landslides choking rivers and endangering hundreds of thousands of people downstream.
Water levels on the largest one, Tangjiashan, kept rising and the chance of the natural dam made of mud and rock bursting was increasing, though the risk would be "controllable" as more than 250,000 people had been evacuated, Chinese media reported.
Hanwang, one of the hardest-hit towns, was evacuating thousands to safe ground as forecast heavy rain over the weekend raised fears of more landslides and the bursting of quake lakes.
Hopes for the 19 people aboard a military helicopter that crashed on a May 31 relief mission have dimmed, after rescuers scrounged the area of high mountains and valleys for five days to no avail.
Soldiers even scanned the bottom of a reservoir with reconnaissance equipment. The 19 included five crew and 14 injured quake survivors and medical workers. (Writing by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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