Gansu rolls into action to support quake victims

As of Wednesday morning, nearly 130,000 relief items, including tents, stoves, coats, quilts and folding beds, had been sent to the earthquake zone in Gansu province, aimed to ensure the basic necessities for the victims of a magnitude-6.2-earthquake that occurred late on Monday.

The quake mainly hit Jishishan county, Linxia Hui autonomous prefecture in Gansu.

Four seriously affected towns, including Dahejia township in the county, have all received disaster relief supplies, according to the Gansu provincial emergency management department, which released the information during a news conference on Wednesday morning.

So far, 87,076 people from 20,457 households have been relocated to temporary sites, it said.

In addition, the province has urgently deployed food, including steamed buns and instant noodles, as well as heating facilities, to ensure that people in the affected areas have enough to eat and a warm living environment.

In the next step, the province will build simple transitional dwelling. Each household will have at least a cotton-padded tent and a transitional house for the winter.

Other basic supplies, including water and electricity, will be guaranteed at the relocation sites.

To ensure smooth traffic for transporting the supplies and doing other rescue work, the transportation department of Gansu is hurrying to repair highways and expressways that were damaged in the quake.

As of 11 am on Tuesday, all expressways and highways leading to disaster areas, as well as all 24 severely damaged rural roads, had been cleared, according to the department.

Because of the impact of the earthquake — and aftershocks that may occur later — risks for some road sections continue, a spokesman of the department said at the conference, adding that vehicles should drive slowly.

Green channels have been set up at toll stations leading to affected areas, providing free passage for rescue vehicles, as well as free catering and other services. The free time will be available until Jan 18.

Planning for post-disaster reconstruction work has begun, as the department organized experts to assess the damage to roads and make all-around preparations for a post-disaster recovery.