Rescue & Aid

All roads to quake-hit Yushu clear: vice transport minister

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-17 18:28

BEIJING - China's vice transport minister said Saturday all roads to quake-hit Yushu in northwest China's Qinghai Province were clear, with transport capacity meeting the needs of relief work.

Special measures have been taken to ensure smooth traffic on roads and bridges having potential safety hazards, vice minister Gao Hongfeng said at a press conference in Beijing.

Traffic authorities in Qinghai have adopted measures such as exclusive lanes for vehicles carrying relief supplies, 24-hour traffic services and having tow trucks on stand-by, Gao said.

According to Gao, bus routes between Qinghai's capital city, Xining, and Yushu have resumed.

Clear roads helped the transfer of 1,179 seriously injured quake survivors to safer places as planned by the end of Friday and the few remaining seriously- or slightly-injured survivors will be transferred by Saturday, he said.

The ministry and local traffic authorities rushed to repair roads to Yushu after it was struck by a 7.1-magnitude quake early Wednesday morning.

All the roads to Yushu had been cleared by 2 p.m. Thursday and the road linking the township of Gyegu with the only airport in Yushu prefecture had been repaired by 5 a.m. Friday, he said.

The transport ministry has allocated 10 million yuan (1.47 million U.S. dollars) to Qinghai's transport department for road repairs, he said.