Quake-hit town may be moved to safer ground

As rescue and relief work comes to an end, experts suggested the reconstruction of quake-hit Ludian county, Yunnan province, should be on higher ground to avoid future geological disasters.

"The county lies in an active earthquake belt surrounded by mountains where geological disasters will cause huge casualties and economic losses," said Luo Fuqiang, an earthquake engineer expert who was with the Yunnan provincial rescue team.

Luo added that post-quake reconstruction should consider the sustainable development of the region and build residents a new town on higher land, Kunming Times reported on Monday.

The reconstruction plan should cover future economic development, including power supply, agriculture and tourism, Luo said.

Besides choosing a safe place, earthquake-resistant structures will be crucial in the reconstruction, and they can largely reduce casualties in earthquakes.

Chen Guoyong, head of Ludian county, said more than 80 percent of the houses that collapsed were made of earth. Hundreds of people died under the debris.

As of Friday, the magnitude-6.5 earthquake had claimed 617 lives and injured 3,143 with 112 missing, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

An official in Ludian who declined to be named said the casualties would have been reduced dramatically if the earthquake-resistant program had been promoted on a larger scale.

In 2007, the Yunnan provincial earthquake bureau launched a rural earthquake-resistance program, with plans to invest 5 billion yuan ($812 million) in rural earthquake resistance over 10 years.

All the rural buildings will be able to resist magnitude-6 earthquakes by 2020, according to the program.

In the epicenter of Ludian county, less than 1 out of 2,000 buildings had finished earthquake resistance construction as of last year, according to official statistics.

Chen said although the government offered subsidies, the farmers are too poor to pay the rest for the earthquake resistance program.

Zhou Mingzhong, director of the Ludian county disaster relief and earthquake-proof bureau, said they will learn from the quake and guide the locals to build houses that can resist earthquakes.

Yunnan province had received more than 479 million yuan in cash donations as of Sunday, a week after the quake in Ludian county.

Meanwhile, donations of food, clothing and other relief materials, valued at 140 million yuan, were also received, the provincial civil affairs bureau said on Sunday.