Mamuti's six-member family lives in Qiaka village in Layika county of Hotan prefecture, one of the least developed areas in southern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and where earthquakes happen often. But this is the second year the family is firmly reuniting in Mamuti's 41-sq-m home of brick, cement and steel.

His new home is part of a pioneering scheme to build houses that can withstand earthquakes in Xinjiang. The building project itself is being seen as an example for quake reconstruction in Sichuan province, where a May 12 tremor last year left more than 69,000 people confirmed dead, 17,900 missing, 374,000 injured and about 7.8 million houses leveled.

Mamuti's family used to live in a hut made of adobe clay and grass, low-cost building material that has traditionally been used in rural Xinjiang.

The only structures that could bear any significant weight were the wooden frames that reinforced parts of the clay. Natural light would enter into homes via small windows and cracks on the roofs and walls.

While farmers there depended on rain to nourish their crops, Mamuti said families would dread downpours because "there would be a lot of mending" to do on their walls at home after each storm.

The Uygur's old home was typical of traditional dwellings in the region's farming areas. Poverty and underdevelopment only aggravated the housing problems faced by many families such as Mamuti's.

Xinjiang, especially its southern and western areas, is located on geographical fault lines where earthquakes happen frequently, said Gao Guoying, a researcher with the earthquake prediction center of Xinjiang's seismic bureau.

Several strong earthquakes have hit Xinjiang in recent years. On Feb 24, 2003, a powerful quake jolted Bacu county of Jiashi, killing 260.

Gao said post-quake research has identified building collapse as one of the main reasons for casualties in the tremors, with many poorly constructed houses designed without any quake-resistant features toppling first.

People in such homes in poverty-stricken areas were constantly vulnerable to natural disasters such as quakes and snowstorms, said Abudureyimu Balati, a resident in Hotan prefecture.

Strong quakes occur about once every two years in Xinjiang. It is difficult to predict when exactly quakes will hit, so quake-resistant buildings are considered the best ways to cope with the temblors.

In 2004, the Xinjiang regional government initiated a quake-resistant housing project. Small homes like those of Mamuti and his fellow villagers were reconstructed in 2006, with government subsidies and construction allocated according to the level of poverty of each household.