Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu Thursday assured quake victims that the injured will receive "timely treatment", and at the same time he warned local governments of the dangers of damaged reservoirs.
Hui, also deputy head of the disaster relief headquarters, Thursday visited Mianyang city in southwestern Sichuan Province which suffered the most casualty in Monday's earthquake.
He visited local hospitals and extended his care for the injured people. He urged rescuers to do their utmost to save lives and try every method to evacuate the badly injured for proper and timely treatment.
The government will have medical workers in place and improve public hygiene to avoid epidemic outbreaks, he said.
Several reservoirs were affected by the earthquake, Hui said, asking local governments to strictly serve their duty to check the conditions of reservoirs and prevent secondary disasters.
His warning was backed up by Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei. He said on Thursday that Sichuan had a large number of reservoirs, many of which had sustained significant but still unknown damage during Monday's 7.8-magnitude quake.
He suggested that local administrations study and judge potential dangers at these facilities by analyzing satellite and other aerial images and evacuate downstream residents, if necessary.
Hui also promised that more rescue teams will rush to the quake-hit regions, especially remote villages.
By Thursday afternoon, about 19,509 people were confirmed dead in Sichuan and the total casualty is estimated to be 50,000. And rescuers have saved 60,000 injured victims.
(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2008)