Wenchuan on health alert

The army, police and civilians launched a joint action program in Wenchuan, the epicenter of the May 12 quake, yesterday to prevent an epidemic outbreak in the quake-hit areas.

A special disease-prevention team left Changchun, capital of Jilin province, for Chengdu by plane yesterday. The team members, all with doctoral degrees, are from the Military Veterinary Institute of the Military Academy of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The experts' job will be to sterilize carcasses that can spread disease, said Gao Hongwei, head of the institute. This is very important because thousands of corpses and carcasses are still buried under rubble in the quake-hit areas.