Woman rescued 9 days after China quake
CHENGDU, China (AP) - May 21, 2008 Meanwhile, the government ordered state agencies to cut planned
spending by 5 percent this year, which will go to create a $10
billion reconstruction fund, the State Council, China's Cabinet,
said in a statement.
Some signs of normalcy returned to the quake area, as schools
opened in some of the camps where the homeless were being housed,
but a lack of tents underscored the massive task facing the
government in sheltering 5 million who lost their homes.
Countries and organizations heeded China's call for help in
sheltering some of the homeless. The U.N. refugee agency said it
has offered 11,000 tents, and the European Union offered 7,500
tents along with blankets and medical supplies.
As /*China*/ switches to reconstruction and recovery operations,
state media said the government plans to rebuild Beichuan city, one
of the hardest hit, in a new location.
"Safety is the top priority in selecting a new location and
reconstruction," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Beichuan
Communist Party chief Song Ming as saying. "We plan to build a
monument and a memorial to commemorate the quake victims on the
previous location."
The quake survivor found Wednesday, Cui Changhui, had been
trapped in a water diversion tunnel at the hydropower plant
construction site in Hongbai town in Sichuan province, Xinhua
reported.
She was taken by helicopter to a hospital to treat multiple
fractures in her right arm, ribs and lower back, but Dr. Pu Jinhui
said her injuries were not life-threatening, according to the
report.
Near the epicenter at Chengdu's Qingyang district sports center,
9-year-old Gao Luwei played with friends after attending classes in
the camp's one-room elementary school.
"I don't know how long we'll be here, but I hope we are here
the shortest time possible," said Gao, whose regular school in the
resort town of Dujiangyan was damaged in the /*earthquake*/ that killed
more than 41,000 people.
Deng Yaping, four-time Olympic gold medalist in table tennis and
an organizer with the Beijing Olympics, was shown on state TV
talking to schoolchildren in a classroom in a blue tent in
Mianyang, north of the provincial capital, Chengdu.
Two big tents were set up on basketball courts to serve as a
school, but each class met for only an hour because of the lack of
space.
"It is different from our school but the teacher is very nice.
We don't have homework now so we can play," said Li Hong, whose
school farther north in Beichuan was destroyed.
An official said it was important for children to return to
their established routines of school and play to help overcome the
trauma of loss.
"The most important thing is to return some semblance of
normalcy to the kids' lives," said Zhu Jiang, a Chengdu city
official who acts as spokesman for the camp.
"We don't want them to feel like they're refugees, but like
they've simply moved to another place for a sort of extended
holiday," he said.
Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said the confirmed death toll from
the earthquake rose to 41,353 on Wednesday. He told reporters
another 32,666 remained missing. Officials expect the final death
toll to exceed 50,000.
State-owned companies suffered losses worth $4.29 billion in the
disaster, Li Rongrong, chairman of the state body that oversees the
enterprises, told reporters in Beijing.
Officials said earlier this week that all companies had been hit
with $9.5 billion in losses from the quake.
On the last day of a three-day official mourning period for
quake victims, a crowd of some 2,000 people in Beijing's Tiananmen
Square who had been chanting "Go China!" grew quiet in a display
of mourning at 2:28 p.m., the exact time the May 12 quake rattled
central Sichuan province.
After a hiatus during the mourning period, the Olympic torch
relay was scheduled to restart on Thursday. Other plans for the
games also were going forward.
Eight pandas from the world-famous Wolong Giant Panda Reserve,
which is only 20 miles from the quake's epicenter, are expected to
arrive by plane in Beijing this weekend to go on display for the
Olympics, a spokesman for the Beijing Zoo said.
The pandas will be on display at the zoo until November, as part
of a trip planned before the disaster.
The earthquake has evoked an emotional response among the
Chinese public, and prompted more than $1.8 billion in donations
from organizations and individuals.
The State Council said in a statement Wednesday that the
country's top anti-corruption office will deal sternly with
officials who misuse or delay distribution of relief money.
Officials have said they will make public the information on where
relief money comes from and where it goes.
Meanwhile, the Tibetan government-in-exile called for a
temporary stop to anti-China protests "to express our solidarity"
with quake victims, according to a Tuesday evening statement.
The quake area is near Tibetan parts of China that saw unrest
earlier this year when authorities cracked down on anti-government
riots.