Life returning to normal after quake

Fang Liang, a Shuanghe official, said the town has a population of 30,500. The homes of about 50 percent of the locals were damaged by the earthquake. People whose homes were damaged live in three resettlement zones with 3,500 tents in town.

Companies and public-spirited individuals have donated plenty of instant noodles, biscuits and mineral water to the Changning county bureau of civil affairs, which has guaranteed that enough food and water is available.

"My son likes instant noodles. But I usually won't let him have them. Now that I've loosened control of him after the disaster, he keeps feasting on them," Zhao said with a smile.