Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) — An Airbus A380 carrier carrying more than 1,100 tents for people left homeless by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, arrived in China’s southwest Sichuan Province on Saturday.

    The plane took off from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris at 4p.m. on Friday (local time) and landed at Shuangliu International Airport in the provincial capital Chengdu at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday.

    It was the first time the world’s largest passenger plane had flown to Chengdu.

    Another plane from France, an Airbus A340-300, arrived at Shuangliu airport on Saturday afternoon, with more than 1,000 tents that can house four to six people each.

    The tents were purchased by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese embassy in France and the Association for the Promotion of Economic and Cultural Exchanges between France and China with donated money.

    Most of the tents were of medium size and reinforced, specially made for the needs of quake victims and relief soldiers, said KongQuan, the Chinese ambassador to France, on Friday.

    An A380 double-deck jetliner developed by French aircraft manufacturer Airbus has a capacity to seat more than 800 passengers. Four such carriers have been put to use up to now.

    The death toll in the earthquake that struck Sichuan on May 12 rose to 68,977 as of Saturday noon, with another 367,854 listed as injured, 17,974 missing and 15.15 million relocated, the Information Office of the State Council said.

Kuomintang Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung with his delegation arrives at the Hong Kong Airport in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), south China, May 31, 2008. Wu Poh-hsiung ended his six-day visit in the Chinese mainland and left Shanghai for Taiwan on Saturday morning. (Xinhua Photo)

    Hong Kong, May 31 (Xinhua) — Kuomintang Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung ended his six-day visit to the Chinese mainland and arrived in Hong Kong from Shanghai on Saturday noon. He left here for Taiwan in the afternoon.

    Shanghai was the third stop on Wu’s six-day mainland tour.

    During his visit, he met with General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Hu Jintao in Beijing on Wednesday.

Kuomintang Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (2nd R) with his delegation arrives at the Hong Kong Airport in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), south China, May 31, 2008. Wu Poh-hsiung ended his six-day visit in the Chinese mainland and left Shanghai for Taiwan on Saturday morning.(Xinhua Photo)

    Director General of Taiwan Affairs Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Xing Kuishan, officials from the Taiwan Work Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and officials of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government saw him off at the Hong Kong International Airport.

    Invited by Hu Jintao, Wu visited three cities including Nanjing, Beijing and Shanghai from May 26 to 31.

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) — In the 24 hours ending Saturday noon, 215 aftershocks were monitored in southwest China’s quake zone, according to the China Seismological Bureau.

    No aftershocks above 4.0 on the Richter scale were detected and all the 215 aftershocks were measured below 3.9, the office said, adding that 9,519 aftershocks had been monitored since May 12 when the major quake struck.

    The strongest aftershock, with a magnitude of 6.4, hit Qingchuan County in southwest China’s Sichuan Province at 4:21 p.m. on May 25.

    China Seismological Bureau has set up observation stations to continuously monitor diastrophism (deformations in the Earth’s crust) and gravitational anomalies within the quake zone.    

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

¡¤Discrimination and nepotism in the distribution of relief goods are not tolerated.
¡¤The legitimate rights of donors and recipients must be respected.
¡¤All donations must only be used for quake relief and quake-hit regions’ reconstruction.

    BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) — Discrimination and nepotism in the distribution of relief goods are not tolerated, China’s State Council earthquake relief headquarters declared on Friday, and the legitimate rights of donors and recipients must be respected.

    At a meeting to discuss the better management of relief supplies and funds for victims of the May 12 earthquake, a notice issued at the end of the session said all donations must only be used for quake relief and quake-hit regions’ reconstruction. They cannot be appropriated for other purposes.

The armed police carry relief materials in Yingxiu Town, Wenchuan County, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, May 28, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

    In addition, government departments and social organizations that deal with donations must clearly keep records of all donations.

    ”The legitimate rights of donors and recipients must be respected and protected according to China’s law on donations,” it said.

    While distributing relief supplies, discrimination or nepotism are not allowed. It added when ensuring people’s basic living demands, the waste of relief supplies must be avoided.

    The notice required all government departments and social organizations dealing with relief supplies and donations to publicize information on the total amount of funds allocated by the central or local governments, the sources and whereabouts of donated funds and the price and quantity of relief supplies purchased.

    It also required auditing organs to account for the relief and donations and to regularly publicize the results.

Effective, time delivery of quake relief supplies urged

    CHENGDU, May 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has urged civil affairs departments to effectively manage quake relief supplies and timely deliver them to quake victims.

    While visiting civil affairs staff of Sichuan Province on Friday, Hui asked them to faithfully implement the central government’s policies on quake relief and transparently deliver donations from various channels to the victims.  Full Story    

China investigates “black heart” relief goods amid concerns on corruption, quality

    BAOJI, Shaanxi, May 30 (Xinhua) — China has started an investigation into the delivery of 300 substandard quilts padded with “black heart cotton,” a Chinese-style wording for used and hazardous cotton, to quake-stricken Sichuan Province. Full story

China’s top procuratorate vows to crackdown on quake relief corruption 

    BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) — China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP) on Friday pledged to lay a firm hand upon corruption in quake relief and help set up a preventive system against graft. Full story

China issues statute on fraud involving quake relief

    BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese authorities published a special statute Thursday that provides for punishment of malpractice and fraud involving relief for the May 12 earthquake in southwest China. Full story

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    BEIJING, May 31 (Xinhua) — The death toll in China’s major earthquake increased by 119 to 68,977 as of Saturday noon, the Information Office of the State Council said.

    Another 367,854 people were counted as injured and 17,974 listed as missing in the 8.0-magnitude quake that jolted southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12.

    A total of 45.55 million people were affected by quake, of whom 15.15 million were relocated, according to the office.

    Hospitals had treated 89,818 injured survivors as of Saturday noon, of whom 59,877 were discharged, 12,797 were still being treated and 9,245 were transferred outside of Sichuan for further treatment.

    As of Saturday noon, domestic and foreign donations stood at 40.1 billion yuan (about 5.8 billion U.S. dollars) and 10.78 billion yuan in cash and goods were forwarded to the disaster area,the office said.

    Government disaster relief funds hit 22.57 billion yuan including 18.29 billion yuan from the central government and 4.28 billion yuan from local governments, according to the Ministry of Finance.

    Relief supplies including 678,900 tents, 4.37 million cotton-padded quilts, 10.7 million garments, 590,000 tonnes of fuel oil and 1.2 million tonnes of coal were sent to the quake-hit areas.

    As of Friday, rescuers had found and evacuated 782,004 people, of whom 6,541 were dug out from under debris.

    Also, 4,900 temporary shelters were set up in quake areas and 6,700 temporary shelters were being erected and 29,900 were being shipped to the quake regions.

    In the 24 hours ending Saturday noon, 215 aftershocks were monitored in southwest China’s quake zone, according to the China Seismological Bureau.

    No aftershocks above 4.0 on the Richter scale were detected and all the 215 aftershocks were measured below 3.9, the office said, adding that 9,519 aftershocks had been monitored since May 12 when the major quake struck.

Special report: Reconstruction After Earthquake

    LANZHOU, May 31 (Xinhua) — China’s northwestern Gansu Province, one of the areas stricken by the May 12 earthquake, plans to complete reconstruction by the end of 2010, a top provincial official said.

    Gansu would rebuild public facilities in the affected areas by the end of this year, including residential houses, schools and hospitals, and restore infrastructure in water conservation, telecommunications, power supply and transport, said Gansu Governor Xu Shousheng at a tele-conference on Friday.

    The redesigned villages, rural houses, schools and hospitals would be put into use and commercial facilities and enterprises would be restored in 2009. The renovation of rural and county power grids and telecommunications facilities would be completed the same year, Xu said.

    Highways, reservoirs at risk and public facilities would be fully recovered in 2010, he added.

    The May 12 earthquake killed 364 people and injured 7,560 in Gansu, according to the latest statistics.