China diverts billions in funds to rebuild after quake
Devastated Beichuan city to be rebuilt in new location
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 | 11:15 PM ET
CBC News
A woman who lost her home in the earthquake sits on a couch between tents at a camp set up for survivors in the Sichuan town of Hongbai on Wednesday. (Greg Baker/Associated Press) China has ordered all its government departments to cut planned spending by five per cent this year to free up funds for the massive reconstruction effort that will be needed to clean up from last week's deadly earthquake.
An estimated five million people lost their homes when the 7.9-magnitude quake struck in the central Sichuan province on May 12. Offices, factories and schools were reduced to heaps of rubble, with Chinese businesses losing an estimated $9.5 billion US.
The Chinese cabinet said it will redirect the money gleaned from spending cuts to a reconstruction fund that is expected to top $10 billion US.
A man carries wood past soldiers taking a break from recovery work in the town of Hongbai on Wednesday. (Greg Baker/Associated Press) In one of the most elaborate reconstruction plans, the government plans to rebuild devastated Beichuan city in a new location, state news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.
The mounds of ruins that lie where Beichuan once stood will be left as a monument to the thousands of residents killed in the city.
"Safety is the top priority in selecting a new location and reconstruction," Song Ming, chief of the Beichuan Communist party, told Xinhua.
As China planned its reconstruction efforts Wednesday, cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin announced that the official earthquake death toll had hit 41,353. Another 32,666 people are still missing and feared trapped under the piles of rubble in Sichuan.
Schools reopen in tent cities
But there was some good news, such as the rescue of a quake survivor who spent nine days trapped in a tunnel under the destroyed Jinhe Hydropower Plant in the town of Hongbai, Xinhua reported. The woman, Zeng Changhui, was treated for fractures in her arm, back and ribs, but is expected to recover.
Schools began to open in some of China's newly formed tent cities, where many of the homeless are taking shelter.
A city official in the Sichuan capital of Chengdu said it's 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. "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."
China vows to crack down on future corruption
More than $1.8 billion US in donated money and supplies has arrived in China, and the government has vowed to keep the public informed about where the relief money is going, and how it is spent.
China's cabinet issued a statement Wednesday saying the country's anti-corruption office will deal sternly with officials who misuse or delay distribution of relief money.
Wednesday marked the end of three days of national mourning for quake victims.
A crowd of some 2,000 in Beijing's Tiananmen Square chanting "Go China!" fell quiet at 2:28 p.m., the exact time the May 12 quake struck.
Olympic torch relay resumes
The Olympic torch resumed its journey through China on Thursday after a three-day period of national mourning for earthquake victims.
The relay resumed at a container port in eastern China's seaport city of Ningbo. The route was to carry it through the city and across the Hangzhou Bay bridge to Jiaxing.
Before the torch left, a ceremony was held on a dock under a giant crane in the port, with a minute of silence for the dead and the millions of people left homeless.
The Beijing Organizing Committee also announced that the Sichuan province leg of the relay has been shifted from June 15 to 18 to Aug. 3 to 5 because of the quake.
The torch is scheduled to return to Beijing on Aug. 6, two days before the Olympic Games' opening ceremonies.
With files from the Associated Press
