Environmental concerns

The vice governor said the reconstruction framework plan was to turn quake-devastated Gyegu town into "a plateau ecological tourist city."

The Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu is at the headwaters of three major Chinese rivers, namely the Yellow, Yangtze and the Lancang, and is also referred to as "Sanjiangyuan" in Chinese.

To protect the ecological environment of Yushu, the Qinghai government has no plan to build concrete and brick factories in Yushu to support the reconstruction, Zhang said.

Sheng Guoyao, an expert specializing in urban development for the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at CASS, said that it is reasonable to position the new Yushu as an eco-tourism city because the tough local geological conditions restrict it from developing industries, agriculture and animal husbandry on a large scale.

Han Buxin, a researcher with the Institute of Psychology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the Global Times that providing psychological support and counseling to the quake survivors is as important as material reconstruction.

"What survivors are experiencing now is beyond the imagination of any one of us who has never had a similar personal experience," he said.

Han also called for respect for local customs and religion during the reconstruction.

"A new Yushu is still the inhabitants' home rather than a strange tourist city," the researcher said.