Order restored in mudslide-hit Zhouqu

Dozens of survivors are sitting on makeshift seats watching TV programs after 1,000 TV sets were recently installed in three settlements in Zhouqu, Gansu province, hit by deadly landslides on Aug 8.

In addition, order has been restored to the market in Zhouqu and more than 10 shops have opened to the residents and rescuers.

Survivors now have access to 48 channels that regularly broadcast information about what is going on in the county.

China Daily Reproter's Notebook:
'Volunteers offer helping hands'

What I have found most noticeable about the response to the landslide, apart from the obvious pain of the victims' families, is the sheer determination of the rescue and relief teams.

With the help of residents, they have not stopped digging bodies out from the mud since Aug 8. 

Post-Disaster Life

A local resident sells vegetables at an open market in mudslide-lashed Zhouqu county, Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Northwest China's Gansu province, Aug 14, 2010. A temporary market selling daily necessities and vegetables to disaster victims was set up Saturday in front of the county government building.

Residents watch TV

Brother and sister expect new semester

Rebuilding Home

Reconstruction of homes

Chinese authorities have pledged to complete the reconstruction of all homes destroyed by a devastating mudslide in a remote northwest China town on Sunday by June next year. Each mudslide-hit family in rural areas is eligible for a 20,000 yuan (US$2,941) subsidy to rebuild their home if it has been destroyed or 4,000 yuan if their home has been damaged. Each urban family whose home was destroyed can receive 25,000 yuan.

Local authorities said 7,038 tents, 20,000 quilts, 2,000 cotton coats, 5,000 sleeping bags, 8,000 folding beds, 49,000 packages of instant food, 56,000 packages of mineral water, 230 electricity generators, and 5,000 kilograms of flour had arrived in Zhouqu as of noon Wednesday.

Preferential loan policies

China's central bank and banking regulatory commission have also ordered the country's financial institutions to provide preferential loan policies to victims in the mudslide-hit regions of Gansu and Sichuan provinces.

The minimum down payment for a home in the disaster-affected urban regions could be reduced to 10 percent while the interest rate for home loans could be cut to possibly 60 percent of the benchmark rate.

Transfer station linking Zhouqu and outside

Decontamination work continues

Temporary water pipes placed

China observes day of mourning

The massive mudslide, which took place on August 8 in Zhouqu County of northwest China's Gansu Province, has killed 1,248 people as of 4 pm Sunday, with 496 still missing.

China mourns the massive loss after the massive landslide in Zhouqu on August 15. During the national day of mourning, flags across the country flew at half-staff, all public forms of entertainment were suspended and the country's main websites removed all color from their front pages.

China Dialy Reproter's Notebook:
Without bodies, 'I can only set tombstones'

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday, our driver drove north to take the five of us, a batch of reporters from China Daily, from Zhouqu to nearby Dangchang county, where we planned to spend the night.

Heavy Damage

A resident walks on a landslide-hit street in Zhouqu County of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province August 12, 2010.  

Blasting River-Blocking Debris 

Rescue Efforts 

A man shovels in front of a partially-submerged excavator on a landslide-hit street.(L) Rescuers walk near the smoke from residents who are burning the belongings of their relatives killed.(R)