"Confident" China rules out post-quake epidemics

By Lindsay Beck

YONGAN, China (Reuters) - Chin said on Monday it could guarantee there would be no epidemics in the earthquake zone, while some survivors complained their farmland was being bulldozed to make way for temporary housing.

Where bodies crushed under buildings in the devastating May 12 tremor could not be cremated, they had been buried deep underground and far from water sources to prevent contamination, Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qunan said.

Camps had been disinfected and people warned of health risks.

"Theoretically, when there is a large movement of people, the risk increases for the spread of transmittable diseases," he said on a webcast on central government website www.gov.cn.

"We have the ability and the confidence to guarantee there will be no epidemics after the disaster."

China has mobilized its military to unblock roads, clear rubble and deliver food, water and tents to millions displaced by the quake. Rescuers are racing to clear swollen "quake lakes" and set up housing before the summer rainy season begins.

A total of 69,019 people have been confirmed dead as of midday on Monday, with 18,627 missing and 373,573 injured.

A tent city has sprung up in Anxian, just off a main road running through mountain fields of corn and watermelons.

Pre-fabricated houses are going up, as they are elsewhere, to provide more long-term shelters away from the stifling heat of leaky tents.

The people, mostly farmers from Chaping near the epicenter of the quake, have nothing to do.

Zhang Zhaohua, 24, sat in her tent with her 22-month-old boy and said adults could stand the heat and the unusual diet of instant noodles, served morning and night.

"It's fine for us, but not for the little ones," she said.

In nearby Yongan, 95 percent of the houses are uninhabitable, but many people survived the quake because they were out in the fields when it struck in the early afternoon.

Some were grumbling that their farmland, with crops also including beans, cabbages and citrus fruit, was now being bulldozed for the prefab housing.

"Our biggest concern is the future and how we will live," one woman said. "The government is using our land, so how are we meant to earn anything?"