In Xinjiang, new houses 'saved lives'

Improved structures stood up to strain as quake rattled region on Wednesday

Earthquake-proof housing projects in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region - especially in its rural areas - have significantly reduced casualties during recent earthquakes in the quake-prone region, a disaster relief expert said.

"Most of the houses that collapsed in recent earthquakes were old adobe houses. The masonry-concrete earthquake-proof houses have proved strong enough to survive earthquakes," said Han Lingge, deputy director of earthquake prevention department of the Xinjiang Seismological Bureau in Urumqi, the regional capital, after a magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck Xinjiang on Wednesday.