Premier Wen Jiabao made his second trip to the earthquake zone on Thursday to supervise disaster relief work. He said the resettlement of victims and reconstruction of quake-hit areas are long-term and arduous tasks.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gazes at the quake-devastated Beichuan town, in southwest China's Sichuan Province, on May 22, 2008. Wen Jiabao made his second trip to the quake-battered zone on Thursday afternoon to oversee disaster relief work. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
As soon as they boarded the plane, Premier Wen and his colleagues began to study the current state of rescue and relief work.
Wen Jiabao said "If the most urgent and important work in the first stage was to save lives, the next stage of resettling victims and reconstructing of the disaster-hit areas will be a long and arduous task. We believe that in the first stage, we carried out our work in an orderly, forceful and effective way, and we also meet the demands of the next stage."
Wen said there are now three top priorities. The first is to resettle the victims, the second is sanitation and disease prevention, and the third is to prevent secondary disasters.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C) talks to local officials in Beichuan, southwest China's Sichuan Province, on May 22, 2008. Wen Jiabao made his second trip to the quake-battered zone on Thursday afternoon to oversee disaster relief work. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)
He said the State Council has made plans to resolve these problems. 900,000 tents must be produced within one month. Within THREE months a million mobile homes must be built. More than 4,500 sanitation workers have been dispatched to quake-hit areas to prevent epidemics.
The Minister of Water Resources Chen Lei said 33 barrier lakes have been created by the earthquake.
Premier Wen said two solutions have to be prepared to prevent these lakes causing new disasters. The first is to take engineering measures to prevent accidents, the second is evacuation from the area. Both of the solutions have to be prepared to ensure people's safety.
(CCTV May 23, 2008)