China Issues Guidelines on Post-Quake Reconstruction
The Chinese government has announced plans for rebuilding towns and cleaning up damage from the earthquake. From Xinhua:
China’s State Council published on Friday guidelines on post-quake reconstruction, emphasizing house repair and building work.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, stressed priority for repairing and building houses for people whose homes were destroyed during the May 12 tremor.
“Check for repairable buildings and fix them as soon as possible; scientifically choose sites, economically use land and set down reasonable quake-resistant levels for building new houses,” the guidelines said.
Areas suitable for living must be marked off based on scientific standards and evaluations on geology and natural resources. Meanwhile, the government will see to the reasonable distribution regarding population, industry and productivity, according to the guidelines.
The Australian also reported that it was expected to take three years to completely rebuild the earthquake zone:
It would take up to three years to rebuild the Sichuan earthquake zone, China said, amid warnings that millions of people made homeless faced a growing health risk from disease.
China has made a global appeal for 3.3 million tents and ordered the construction within three months of one million simple homes made of light materials.
But Mr Li warned it would take much longer to rebuild communities, not to mention addressing the lasting psychological scars.
“We aim to improve roads and infrastructure and build new villages, towns and cities within three years,” the vice governor said.
Origin: ed. Du Guodong, Xinhua
