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Resettlement, reconstruction in China

— Photo: Xinhua

Warm welcome: Students from quake-affected Qingchuan of Sichuan Province arrive at Liupanshan Higher Middle School in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on Thursday. A total of 130 students from Qingchuan will continue their studies at Ningxia Liupanshan Higher Middle School and the local government will pay for their education.

CHENGDU: One month into its relief work, quake-weary China is now focusing more efforts on resettlement and reconstruction.

More and more people are moving home after living outdoors under temporary shelters since the devastating May 12 quake.

Having lived in a heat-trapping tent with bottled water and instant noodles over the past 10 muggy days, Luo Chaogui is now merrily preparing food for her family in their air-conditioned home.

“It’s good to be back home,” she said.

Ms. Luo is one of 2,40,000 evacuated residents who returned home on Wednesday after China claimed a “decisive victory” in the battle to drain a “quake lake” in the worst-hit Sichuan Province. “Finally, I can have a sleep in a real ‘bed’ tonight,” she said. One month after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake, which claimed nearly 70,000 lives and left another 18,000 missing, the country has had thousands of displaced people move out of temporary shelters and tents.

In the Bayi Tent School in Mianyang City, more than 600 students bid farewell to the tents where they had been studying and living since the earthquake, and moved into makeshift houses with a decent dining hall and bathroom. As of Wednesday, relief workers had built 92,500 temporary houses and another 27,800 were being installed, while the material for 90,800 makeshift houses had arrived in the quake-hit areas, said the State Council Information Office Thursday.

But not everyone is as lucky as Ms. Luo and the students. Among the 5 million left homeless, many are still huddling under shelters made of canvas and tree branches or in the settlement gymnasium.

As of June 8, with workers going back, more than 4,000 of the 5,500 enterprises have resumed production. — Xinhua

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