Anti-quake heroes honored as arduous post-quake construction goes on

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-09 00:08

"Although money is a big problem, the Environment Protection Ministry is urging local governments to build a series of centralized sewage treatment plants," said Ma Ning, director of the Southwest Environmental Protection Supervision Center with the ministry.

How to live through the winter is the most urgent task.

Shen Suhua, 45, a villager in Renhe Village, Shifang City, one of the worst-hit areas in the quake, watched the TV broadcast of the ceremony in her prefabricated house. Hu's words left her relieved.

Her original house was made of wooden blocks and oilcloth. Small gaps were found all through the house.

"My clothing is still buried under the debris. The donated clothes do not suit me. I have to wear a T-shirt in such cool weather," she said.

In Sichuan, about 1.82 million households are living in prefab houses.

For 4.45 million families who lost their homes in the quake, to move in a permanent house is their best wish. However, most could not afford to build a house.

They were lucky the Sichuan government launched a housing subsidy scheme on Tuesday to assist quake-affected urbanites during the reconstruction.

Each urban family whose house was demolished in the quake could receive a cash subsidy of 25,000 yuan (US$3,669) in addition to other preferential policies. These included a tax reduction for building new houses and lower prices for buying apartments, the provincial government announced at a conference Tuesday.

People below the urban poverty line could live in a 40-square-meter apartment offered free by the government. Those who lost all their family members could live in welfare homes with a 35,000 yuan government subsidy.

The provincial government had made prefabricated houses for 10 million people in three months following the quake. It plans to reconstruct all the damaged houses by the end of 2010.

The country will spend three years to complete the preliminary reconstruction and further develop the quake-hit region in the following five years. Central finance has allocated 70 billion yuan to create a reconstruction fund for the region this year.

Currently, workers from 20 provinces are helping the reconstruction in quake-hit areas. Those provinces will put at least 1 percent of their financial revenues every year into the reconstruction projects.

The magnitude-8.0 quake claimed more than 69,000 lives and left nearly 18,000 missing and more than 374,000 injured. It left millions homeless in Sichuan and some neighboring regions.

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