On Track to Recovery

By WANG HAIRONG

On Track to Recovery

By WANG HAIRONG

Earthquake-stricken Yingjiang County in Yunnan Province starts to go back to normal life

Forty thousand primary and middle school students in Yingjiang County,southwest China’s Yunnan Province,returned to class on March 14, four days after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck the area.

The remaining 10,000 plus students in the county would resume class on March 21, said Li Shaobo, head of the county’s Education Bureau.

Classrooms in most of the schools in the county were assessed by construction experts as safe for students to return, except for the schools in the county seat, which is closer to the epicenter and hit harder.

“As their classrooms need repair or reconstruction, some students will take classes in temporary classrooms,” Li said.

Wang Genshun, an education official in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture that has jurisdiction over Yingjiang, said students in the county needed a total of 200 mobile prefabricated classrooms. As of March 13, 50 such classrooms had been put in place, Li said.

On March 13, the Ministry of Civil Affairs sent 500 tents for the students in Yingjiang to take classes in, reported theBeijing Times.

The quake hit at 12:58 p.m. on March 10 at a depth of 10 km. It left at least 25 people dead and more than 314 others injured. The government has relocated 127,100 residents to safer locations, according to of fi cial statistics.

Losses

Yingjiang, near the China-Myanmar border, has a population of 300,000 and a land area of 4,400 square km. The county is crisscrossed with high mountains and deep valleys.

As the county lies on the Himalayan Seismic Zone, tremors are frequent there,said Gu Yishan, an of fi cial with the Yunnan Provincial Earthquake Bureau.

During the past two months, more than 1,200 minor tremors were recorded in the region, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The 5.8-magnitude tremor struck on March 10 when Yang Jifeng, a worker with Yingjiang Cement Co., was taking a nap and his wife was having lunch with their 1-yearold son.

The bed suddenly shook, the ceiling moved, and then the lights went off, Yang toldYunnan Information News.

After Yang realized it was a tremor bigger than others they had experienced in recent months, he and his family ran out of the house.

A man surnamed Lin toldYunnan Information Newshe was in an of fi ce building when the jolt occurred. Lin and his colleagues fl ed to the street and they saw the power poles swaying.

“There have been many minor tremors in Yingjiang, so we did not take this earthquake very seriously in the beginning,” Lin said. “Luckily we learned how to protect ourselves from earthquakes before, so we did not feel panic. Only a few coworkers were slightly injured.”

The earthquake toppled 18,402 rooms of 3,613 households, seriously damaged 49,130 rooms of 9,855 households and lightly damaged 49,130 rooms of 13,891 households, said Yunnan Provincial Civil Affairs Department the day after the quake.

The quake also seriously damaged hydropower, electricity and communication infrastructure.

As of March 14, the earthquake incurred direct economic loss of 2.68 billion yuan($406 million), reportedThe Beijing News.

Frequent tremors in the past months have already done damage to buildings in the county, which might have worsened the damage from the quake on March 10, said Gu.

In addition, this earthquake’s epicenter was not deep and very close to the densely populated county seat, he said.

Experts also said so many buildings collapsed or cracked because many of them sat on foundations in landslide deposits or foundations vulnerable to sand liquefying.Moreover, the structure and materials of many buildings in the area were not earthquake resistant.

Numerous aftershocks below magnitude 5 followed the earthquake on March 10. The soil on the slopes might have been turned loose by the tremors, increasing the possibility of landslides in Yingjiang, said experts in the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The departments of land and resources at various levels of governments in Yunnan have been monitoring sequent geological hazards, local of fi cials said.

Helping hands

After the earthquake struck, central and local governments immediately started rescue and relief efforts.

CHEN HAINING

The provincial earthquake bureau ac-tivated its emergency plan. Two teams of rescuers equipped with necessary appliances were sent to the disaster area from provincial capital Kunming and Dali.

Militia, armed police and border patrol troops in Dehong also took part in rescue operations.

The fi rst group of 20 rescuers arrived on the scene about 20 minutes after the quake struck. Ten minutes after they arrived, they pulled a survivor out of the debris.

In addition to digging for victims, rescuers also transferred survivors to safe places,delivered emergency supplies and maintained social order.

In the meantime, the provincial health bureau sent medical teams to the quakestricken county, bringing medicine with them. Almost all the medical workers sent to Yingjiang had disaster relief experience in the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan earthquake in neighboring Sichuan Province in May 2008.

Yingjiang’s center for disease control and prevention started disinfection and epidemic prevention right after the earthquake,said Zhou Yun, Deputy Director of Yunnan Provincial Health Department.

Usually, disinfection and disease prevention will continue for one to 18 months after a disaster, Zhou said.

On March 11, the Central Government allocated 55 million yuan ($8.4 million)for relocating and settling local residents,providing living subsidies and offering condolence payments to those who lost family members in the quake.

The next day, the Ministry of Finance said it had allocated 50 million yuan ($7.6 million) for infrastructure emergency repair in Yingjiang.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs sent 5,000 tents, 10,000 quilts, 10,000 coats and 62 tons of cloth to the disaster area, while the provincial civil affairs department also sent 2,000 tents, 3,000 quilts, 3,000 coats and some cloth.

The Red Cross Society of China, Red Cross societies of Hong Kong and Macao and other provinces of China also donated tents, quilts, coats, emergency family kits and money.

Yunnan Provincial Civil Affairs Department said, as of noon on March 12, it had received 37 million yuan ($5.6 million)in cash and some emergency supplies from the public.

As of the evening of March 13, 16.7 million yuan ($2.5 million) had already been distributed to affected residents in Yingjiang,said Shang Labian, deputy head of the county.

Shang said 8,999 tents had been set up,many emergency supplies had also been distributed, and the basic living needs of survivors had been met.

Reconstruction

Yingjiang has started to plan on postdisaster reconstruction.

Safety assessment of public buildings in Yingjiang, such as schools and hospitals,began on March 13.

The assessment team under Yingjiang’s disaster relief headquarters consists of 85 engineering experts.

The results of the assessment are the basis for ensuing reconstruction, said Li Wenqiang, deputy head of Yingjiang’s Construction Bureau.

Safety assessment of residential homes would be carried out after key public buildings were appraised, said Li. All loss evaluations are expected to be completed within one or two weeks, he added.

For residential homes assessed to be safe, the county would encourage their owners to move back, said Li.