Earthquake costs China over £73bn
Pastor Dale Morgan
Earthquake costs China over Ł73bn*
* Tania Branigan in Beijing
* guardian.co.uk,
* Wednesday July 2, 2008
China's devastating earthquake in Sichuan has cost it more than 1
trillion yuan (Ł73bn), a senior official has said.
The figure, which amounts to around 4% of the country's GDP last year,
is far higher than the original estimate of 67bn yuan of direct economic
losses.
One of the province's vice-governors told the figure to a visiting US
delegation.
It came as a senior official warned that heavy rain and the risk of
aftershocks from the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in May could create more
"quake lakes" and that 35 bodies of water already formed by landslides
still pose a threat to hundreds of thousands of people downstream.
Deputy water resources minister Jiao Yong told a news conference in
Beijing that work to drain the lakes had largely been successful.
But he added: "Rainfall is expected to be much higher than in previous
years during the flood season, and there may be large floods."
The education ministry said yesterday that it had issued safety
guidelines for new schools in the quake zone, amid widespread anger over
poorly constructed buildings that collapsed during the earthquake,
killing many children.
A notice on its website said reconstruction should be "meticulously and
carefully" carried out, adding: "Every school in the affected areas
should be made to be the firmest and safest, so as to not worry parents
and the public."
The statement added that departments were working together to establish
earthquake-resistant building standards.
Chen Baosheng, a professor of Tongji University, who studies disaster
prevention in buildings, told Reuters that previous construction
standards in earthquake-hit areas had not been followed very well.
But he added: "It's not difficult to follow these standards and I think
people will."