Rescue & Aid

Disaster flattens previous standards

By Zhang Jin and Zuo Likun (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-21 07:35

Xining - More stringent quake-resistant standards will be adopted to rebuild homes for herdsmen in Yushu county, Qinghai province, who will also be compensated for the loss of livestock, an official has said.

The deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook up Yushu at a time when the province was planning to move some 70 percent of the county's nomad herdsmen into permanent homes by the end of 2014.

"We had a set of quake-proof standards, but the recent earthquake told us loud and clear those standards were far from enough," Zhang Wenhua, vice-director of the Qinghai agricultural and animal husbandry department, told China Daily in an interview over the weekend.

The government plans to construct nearly 40,000 concrete homes by the end of 2014 to house more than 70 percent of the 56,000 Tibetan families in Yushu.

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The government started building more than 7,000 of these homes last year, but most of them were still under construction when the quake occurred. It is unknown whether these unfinished homes were destroyed in the quake, Zhang said.

"The quake has told us there is no safe land and we have to be prepared," he said.

The earthquake, which has killed at least 2,064 people and injured 12,135 as of Tuesday afternoon, flattened many of the county's buildings, because local homes - many of which were temporary settlements built by herdsmen - were timberwork, Zhang said.

About 90,000 people, or nine-tenths of Yushu's population, are Tibetans, most of whom are nomadic herdsmen. They still live in tents and thatched shacks, and are now sharing shelter with their livestock after the quake.

Zhang Wenhua says more strict quake-proof standards will be introduced to rebuild homes for herdsmen in Yushu county.

No smaller than 60 square meters, each of these homes will cost more than 46,000 yuan ($6,700), Zhang said.

The earthquake has also killed 40,879 livestock, or 7.6 percent of the total, in Yushu prefecture as of Sunday, Zhang said.

The dead animals comprise 27,714 cattle, 13,005 sheep, 160 horses and 900 Tibetan mastiffs, he said.

However, the loss is not significant, as most of the animals were being grazed far from the quake's epicenter, Zhang said.

But the herdsmen will "definitely be compensated" for the loss of their animals, although the amount of the compensation has yet to be decided, Zhang said. "Animal husbandry is local Tibetans' major source of income."

Previously, local herdsmen received at least 1,500 yuan if their yak died of an epidemic disease and 300 yuan for a sheep.

Organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and local agricultural authorities, three teams have worked on safely disposing of and disinfecting livestock carcasses since Sunday, Zhang said.

China Daily

(China Daily 04/21/2010 page4)