Premier Li visits NW China village after quake

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang shakes hands with a villager upon his arrival at Yongguang village, Minxian county in Northwest China's Gansu province, Aug 17. The village was among the worst-hit areas during the magnitude-6.6 earthquake in the province on July 22. Li visited the village on Saturday for inspection of post-quake construction and resettlement progress of the quake victims. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday visited a remote village hit hard by an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale on July 22 in Northwest China’s Gansu province Saturday.

The quake killed 21 people and injured 57 in Yongguang village, Minxian county, Gansu province. The village has a population of more than 2,200, with most people’s income coming from growing Chinese herbal medicine and providing labor service.

It took Li about nine hours from Beijing to the remote village by air, train, and car. Hours before Li’s arrival, the region was hit by a 3.7-magnitude earthquake, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center. But the quake didn’t change Li’s schedule.