Quake Snippets

Beijing

Pollution control effort

The Ministry of Environmental Protection has allocated 35 million yuan ($5 million) to the prevention and control of pollution-related accidents, which could occur in Sichuan province in the wake of Monday's earthquake.

Monitoring equipment worth 10 million yuan has been sent to the worst-hit areas, and will be used to treat drinking water and provide protection from pollution caused by pesticide, fertilizer and chemical leakages, and damaged nuclear facilities, it said.

Road repairs going well

Road repair workers were just 8 km from the county seat of Wenchuan, the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake, as of 5 pm yesterday, the Ministry of Transport said.

The reconstruction of a road from Lixian to Wenchuan, which was cut off after the quake, is progressing rapidly, it said. The road forms part of the No 317 national highway, which runs from Nagqu in the Tibet autonomous region to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

Three other roads into Wenchuan county have also been blocked, making rescue work difficult.

Phone networks restored

Telecom networks in Wenchuan resumed operations yesterday as engineers repaired a broken optical-fiber cable connecting the county to the outside world.

China Telecom said the fixed-line network in Wenchuan began working again yesterday, after engineers managed to reconnect the cable carrying long-distance calls.

However, networks in neighboring Maoxian, Heishui and Pingwu counties are still down, the company said.

Also yesterday, China Mobile, the country's largest cellphone operator, said two of its engineers managed to enter Wenchuan and have established an emergency wireless service using satellite phones.

Rumormongers punished

Public security departments have punished 17 rumormongers in the wake of the earthquake, according to the Ministry of Public Security in the capital.

Public security bureaus in 11 provinces and municipalities including Hebei, Liaoning and Anhui found more than 40 messages circulating malicious rumors about the earthquake on the Internet and found 17 people responsible for these messages.The Ministry did not specify what the rumors were, saying only that these people had "spread false information, made sensational statements and sapped public confidence".

Extra funding

The Ministry of Finance yesterday provided 200 million yuan ($28.6 million) in emergency funding to buy and ship drugs and medical equipment to quake-affected areas.

The extra money took the disaster relief fund from the central budget to 1.31 billion yuan, ministry sources said yesterday.

No fees on necessities

All foods, vegetables and other basic necessities sold in quake-stricken areas will be exempted from market management fees, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce said yesterday.

It also urged its branches nationwide to increase food supplies to disaster areas.

The administration said it will intensify its crackdown on the sale of fake and inferior foods, and vowed to punish those who attempt to profiteer from the disaster.

Chengdu

Taiwan aid arrives

A chartered freighter of the Taiwan-based China Airlines arrived yesterday at Chengdu loaded with relief supplies.

It carried 110 tons of blankets, tents, clothing, first aid kits and other supplies donated by Taiwan's charity institutions.

The aid will be distributed by the China Charity Federation and the Red Cross Society of China's Sichuan branch.

The mainland also welcomed a rescue team sent by the Red Cross organization of Taiwan to help in relief work.

Sichuan

Price controls imposed

Temporary controls have been imposed on food prices and transport fares in quake-hit Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces and Chongqing municipality to prevent hoarding and speculation.

Local authorities announced the move after the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice on Wednesday ordering them to carry out daily monitoring and price controls and to punish speculators.

In Mianyang, one of the regions worst hit, there have been reports of food vendors more than doubling prices. Some of them have been fined.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily 05/16/2008 page6)