The temperature in Zhaosu County of northwest China's Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region plunged to - 25 C Tuesday as survivors of
Monday's earthquake awaited the arrival of relief materials.
"We desperately need fur coats, cotton shoes, caps and other
winter clothes,'' said Zhang Yong, deputy division commander of the
No 4 agricultural division of the Xinjiang Production and
Construction Corps.
Local officials said it would take two days for trucks carrying
1,000 tents to reach the stricken region because of deep snow, and
arrival of relief materials from Urumqi, the regional capital, has
likewise been delayed.
Zhang said 1,226 people, most of them ethnic Mongolians, were
seriously affected when the quake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter
Scale, rolled through the county near the border with
Kazakhstan.
Eleven people were killed and 73 injured, and the quake caused
economic losses estimated at 23.6 million yuan (US$2.9
million).
A number of historical relics were also damaged, according to
China News Agency.
Emergency aid arrived Tuesday in the hardest-hit area of Zhaosu
County in the Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili.
The local civil affairs department in the county told China
Daily 650 tents have been distributed by the department and the
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
An additional 1,000 tents and living necessities sent by the
regional government, along with 100 tons of coal donated by the
department, were expected to arrive Tuesday.
Another 30,000 yuan (US$3,600) worth of relief materials, including
clothing, quilts, medicine, foods and cotton-padded shoes is en
route.
The Red Cross Society of China has decided to donate 100,000
yuan (US$12,000) to help victims.
The Civil Affairs Ministry has dispatched an investigation team,
and another rescue team has been sent by the China Seismological
Bureau.
To prevent further injuries from the continuous aftershocks,
patrolling teams have been organized by local rescue workers to
stop people from entering their wrecked houses.
Soldiers and police officers were dismantling damaged houses to
avoid the danger of their collapsing.
Zhang Yong, the senior corps officer, said that the division's
rescue command headquarters had mobilized 700 workers to dig caves
to provide shelter for homeless people and cattle, but he said the
work was slowed by the cold.
The emergency food and clean water will "barely satisfy''
people's needs, Zhang said.
It's reported that more than 6,000 people have been affected,
most of whom are workers and relatives from the 76 agricultural
division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Victims are worried about how to spend the six-month winter
season in Zhaosu County, where the temperature can plummet to as
low as -40 C.
(China Daily December 3, 2003)
