China double-checks safety of post-quake rebuilding projects
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Southwest China's Sichuan Province is reviewing post-quake rebuilding projects to ensure new homes and public facilities are safe and away from areas prone to geological disasters.
The safety evaluation will take about six weeks.
In a circular issued Tuesday, the provincial government requested all cities and counties to submit an evaluation report, asking for suggestions on improvements and relocations, before Oct. 30.
"We'll restudy all reconstruction projects to double-check their safety," the document said, "so as to make sure they are away from earthquake rupture belts and areas prone to floods and geological disasters."
It said the provincial government would readjust some of the rebuilding plans based on the evaluation results.
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan and the neighboring Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in May 2008, leaving some 87,000 people dead or missing.
China has earmarked more than 1,000 billion yuan (147 billion U.S. dollars) for post-quake rebuilding in 51 counties of the three provinces, covering 132,596 square km, an area with a combined population of about 20 million.
The government was hoping to finish 85 percent of all rebuilding projects by September and complete the three-year rebuilding a year in advance. But rain-triggered floods and geological disasters that battered some quake-ravaged areas in August had hindered the progress.
Torrential rain and subsequent landslides were reported in 114 counties in 20 cities across the province in the second half of August, damaging new homes and causing 16.7 billion yuan in economic losses.
Among the worst-hit cities were the provincial capital Chengdu, as well as Deyang, Guangyuan, Mianyang, Ya'an and the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture.
In Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan County, the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake, 18 houses toppled and 15 others were damaged by flood.
In a village of Mianyang City, more than 500 homes were buried by rain-triggered mud-rock flows.
The Longchi Township in Dujiangyan City also suffered from this summer's floods, with 53 rural homes collapsed and 153 others damaged.
Experts have warned of higher risks of geological disasters in the quake zone.
Sichuan Province's weather bureau chief Ma Li said rainfall in the quake-hit areas in August totaled 240 mm, nearly twice the volume reported for the same period of last year.
"Sustained rain increased the likelihood of floods and landslides in the mountainous areas," said Ma. "The Wenchuan earthquake of 2008 simply worsened the risks."
In a geological survey following the quake, the provincial land and resources department found nearly 13,000 places that were prone to landslides and other disasters in 44 quake-hit counties in Sichuan.
"It's hard to remove all the risks anytime soon," said Song Guangqi, the provincial land and resources chief. "Other countries' experience indicated it takes about 10 years. Within three to five years after a devastating earthquake, mud-rock flows are the biggest threat."
The earthquake was also suspected as one of the underlying causes for a massive mudslide that leveled Zhouqu County in the neighboring Gansu Province on Aug. 8. and left more than 1,700 people dead or missing.
