One month on and it's back home for luckiest survivors

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

ONE month into its relief work, China is now focusing more efforts on resettlement and reconstruction.

More and more people are moving home after living outdoors under temporary shelters.

Having lived in tent with bottled water and instant noodles over the past 10 days, Luo Chaogui is now happily preparing Kong Pao chicken and Sichuan-style tofu for her family in their air-conditioned home.

Luo is one of 240,000 evacuated residents who returned home on Wednesday after China claimed a "decisive victory" in the battle to drain a quake lake in Sichuan Province.

"Finally, I can have a sleep in a real bed tonight," she said.

One month after the earthquake which claimed nearly 70,000 lives and left another 18,000 missing, the country has had thousands of displaced people move out of temporary shelters and tents. In the Bayi Tent School in Mianyang City, more than 600 students bid farewell to the tents where they had been studying and living since the quake, and moved into temporary housing.

By Wednesday, relief workers had built 92,500 temporary houses and another 27,800 were being installed, while the material for 90,800 makeshift houses had arrived in the quake-hit areas, the State Council Information Office said yesterday.

But not everyone is as lucky as Luo and the students. Among the 5 million left homeless after the earthquake, many are still huddling under shelters of canvas and tree branches or in the settlement's gymnasium.

Temporary

"I have no idea about the future at all," said Cheng Luping, 33, who had just moved to a tent from the Jiuzhou Gymnasium, where another 4,000 people from Mianyang were still living.

Cheng was promised a 20-square meter temporary house by the local government. "As long as my wife and mother have a house to live in, I will go to Shanghai to find a job to support my family."

In the quake areas, many people like Cheng are endeavoring to get their lives back on track. By June 8, more than 4,000 out of the 5,500 affected enterprises in Sichuan had resumed production.

Dongfang Steam Turbine Corp at Hanwang Town, one of the worst-hit regions, was one of them.

The earthquake killed more than 100 workers in Dongfang, destroyed several buildings and brought estimated losses of 5 billion yuan (US$720 million).

"It's heartbreaking to see what we have achieved after so many years' endeavors to disappear within seconds," said Zhang Zhiying, the general manager. "But God helps those who help themselves. With our efforts, in just two years, we will be in a better shape."

China's central government has launched a campaign to facilitate post-quake reconstruction.

Nearly 45 billion yuan worth of donations in funds and goods, mostly from domestic sources, had been made up to yesterday.