China orders budgets cut to feed $10B relief fund
CHENGDU, China - A woman trapped in a tunnel at a power plant was rescued nine days after an earthquake struck central China the only person found alive Wednesday while the government ordered budgets slashed to free money for relief efforts.
State agencies were told to cut planned spending by 5 percent this year, which will go to create a $10 billion reconstruction fund, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said in a statement.
Some signs of normalcy returned to the quake area, as schools opened in some of the camps where the homeless were being housed, but a lack of tents underscored the massive task facing the government in sheltering 5 million who lost their homes.
As China switches to reconstruction and recovery operations, state media said the government plans to rebuild Beichuan city, one of the hardest hit, in a new location.
"Safety is the top priority in selecting a new location and reconstruction," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Beichuan Communist Party chief Song Ming as saying.
The quake survivor found Wednesday identified as Zeng Changhui, whose age was not known had been trapped in a water diversion tunnel at the Jinhe Hydropower Plant in Hongbai town in Sichuan province, Xinhua reported.
She was taken by helicopter to a hospital to treat multiple fractures in her right arm, ribs and lower back, but Dr. Pu Jinhui said her injuries were not life-threatening, according to the report.
Near the epicenter at Chengdu's Qingyang district sports center, 9-year-old Gao Luwei played with friends after attending classes in the camp's one-room elementary school.
"I don't know how long we'll be here, but I hope we are here the shortest time possible," said Gao, whose regular school in the resort town of Dujiangyan was damaged in the earthquake that killed more than 41,000 people.
Deng Yaping, four-time Olympic gold medalist in table tennis and an organizer with the Beijing Olympics, was shown on state TV talking to schoolchildren in a classroom in a blue tent in Mianyang, north of the provincial capital, Chengdu.
- 1 HK typhoon alert No.1 issued
- 2 Live Broadcast of Olympic Games opening ceremony in HK Olympic Piazza tomorrow
- 3 The No. 3 Strong Wind Signal has been raised tonight in HK
- 4 Jolie-Pitt baby twins photos online
- 5 HK, Macau issues Strong Wind Signal No. 8
- 6 Signal No. 3 replaces 8 as Kammuri passes
- 7 HK stocks down as oil rises, China markets fall
- 1 HK typhoon alert No.1 issued
- 2 HSBC reports 1H fall in profit 29 percent
- 3 Bryant scores 19, helps US beat Russia in tuneup
- 4 Actor Morgan Freeman is injured in car accident
- 5 Jolie-Pitt baby twins photos online
- 6 Christina Applegate treated for breast cancer
- 7 Paris Hilton's mom takes offense at McCain's humor
- 1 Franklin Wong Appointed New HK Broadcasting Chief
- 2 HK 5 Summonsed for Olympic Ticket Scalping
- 3 Live Broadcast of Olympic Games opening ceremony in HK Olympic Piazza tomorrow
- 4 HK to sell 2nd Phase of the HKD Olympic Banknote tomorrow
- 5 Split verdict in first Guantanamo war-crimes trial
- 6 HK traffic measures set for equestrian events
- 7 Greyhound scraps ads after Canada bus beheading
|
|















GMR to expand more continents after success in Turkey


