Disaster flattens previous standards

Xining - More stringent quake-resistant standards will be adopted to rebuild homes for herdsmen in Yushu county, Qinghai province, who will also be compensated for the loss of livestock, an official has said.

The deadly 7.1 magnitude earthquake shook up Yushu at a time when the province was planning to move some 70 percent of the county's nomad herdsmen into permanent homes by the end of 2014.

"We had a set of quake-proof standards, but the recent earthquake told us loud and clear those standards were far from enough," Zhang Wenhua, vice-director of the Qinghai agricultural and animal husbandry department, told China Daily in an interview over the weekend.