China opens schools in quake zone's tent cities

• IBTimes RSS
• Print
• E-Mail
• digg
• Del.icio.us

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.

An official said it was important for children to return to their established routines of school and play to help overcome the trauma of loss.

"The most important thing is to return some semblance of normalcy to the kids' lives," said Zhu Jiang, a Chengdu city official who acts as spokesman for the camp.

"We don't want them to feel like they're refugees, but like they've simply moved to another place for a sort of extended holiday," he said.

Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin said the confirmed death toll from the earthquake rose to 41,353 on Wednesday. He told reporters another 32,666 remained missing. Officials expect the final death toll to exceed 50,000.

Li Rongrong said estimated economic loss suffered by state-owned enterprises in the earthquake totaled $4.29 billion. Li chairs the body that overseas state-owned enterprises.

Compounding the misery for the 5 million left homeless in the disaster, rain was forecast for parts of Sichuan province.

• 1
• 2