Reconstruction completed in quake-hit Yushu

A ceremony is held to mark the completion of reconstruction work in earthquake-hit Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Northwest China's Qinghai province, Nov 3, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

XINING - Reconstruction work in earthquake-hit Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Northwest China's Qinghai province has been completed, with a ceremony to mark the occasion on Sunday, local authorities said.

The work, funded by the central government and other provinces, began in July 2010 and finished last month, with more than 100,000 people working on projects.

Yushu was hit by a magnitude-7.1 earthquake on April 14, 2010. More than 2,600 people were killed and the entire town of Gyegu, located near the quake's epicenter, was flattened.

With high altitude of more than 4,000 meters, the region's oxygen level is only 60 percent of that in lower areas.

Luo Huining, secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) of Qinghai, said the reconstruction was the most difficult rebuilding work ever launched at high altitude.

A total of 1,248 reconstruction projects have been completed in the region with an investment of about 44.4 billion yuan ($7.2 billion), according to Wen Guodong, secretary of the prefecture committee of the CPC in Yushu.

Yushu has had its infrastructure such as transportation, power supply, water conservancy and communication facilities completely restored.

Wen said residential buildings for 39,149 households have been completed.

Over 60,000 students have moved from their temporary prefabricated classrooms to new campuses. Ninety-four middle and primary schools and kindergartens are now in operation.

The prefecture has relatively advanced medical facilities compared to other Tibetan regions, with 63 medical reconstruction projects up and running, according to Wen.

The Yushu Tibetan autonomous county, epicenter of the deadly quake, was upgraded from a county-level administrative division to a city last month in order to boost the area's development.

"Brand-new Yushu city has many facilities which it did not have before," said Wu Dejun, deputy secretary of the prefecture committee of the CPC.

Up till now, seven business districts have been reconstructed and nine tourism projects including tourist reception centers at temples and plateau wetlands have mostly been completed.

"We aim to build Yushu into an ecological, commercial and tourist city in the future," Wu said.