Race against winter in quake zone

The country is racing against time to rebuild homes and set up temporary shelters for many of the 1.2 million people displaced by the Panzhihua earthquake.

A senior civil affairs official yesterday said reconstruction could begin only in the middle of this month, giving little time before winter sets in.

Pang Chenmin, deputy director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' disaster relief department, said: "We face a tight schedule to beat the winter cold."