Woman found 9 days after quake
2008-05-21 16:04
Chengdu - A woman trapped in a tunnel was rescued nine days after China?s devastating earthquake - the only survivor found on Wednesday - while the government ordered budgets slashed to free money for relief efforts.
State agencies were told to cut planned spending by 5% this year, which will go to create a 70 billion yuan reconstruction fund, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said in a statement.
Premier Wen Jiabao also said the government would enact a ban on new state building projects, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
The quake survivor found Wednesday - identified as Zeng Changhui, whose age was not known - had been trapped in a water diversion tunnel at the Jinhe Hydropower Plant in Hongbai town in Sichuan province, Xinhua reported.
She was taken by helicopter to a hospital to treat multiple fractures in her right arm, ribs and lower back, but Dr Pu Jinhui said her injuries were not life-threatening, according to the report.
Signs of normalcy
Some signs of normalcy returned to the quake area, as more schools reopened, but a lack of tents underscored the massive task facing the government in sheltering 5 million left homeless.
Near the epicentre at Chengdu's Qingyang district sports centre, 9-year-old Gao Luwei played with friends after attending classes in the camp's one-room elementary school.
"I don't know how long we'll be here, but I hope we are here the shortest time possible," said Gao, whose regular school in the resort town of Dujiangyan was damaged in the earthquake that killed more than 40 000 people.
Two big tents were set up on basketball courts to serve as a school, but each class met for only an hour because of the lack of space.
No homework
"It is different from our school but the teacher is very nice. We don't have homework now so we can play," said Li Hong, whose school further north in Beichuan was destroyed.
An official said it was important for children to return to their established routines of school and play to help overcome the trauma of loss.
"The most important thing is to return some semblance of normalcy to the kids' lives," said Zhu Jiang, a Chengdu city official. "We don't want them to feel like they're refugees, but like they've simply moved to another place for a sort of extended holiday."
On the last day of a three-day official mourning period for quake victims, a crowd of some 2 000 people in Beijing's Tiananmen Square who had been chanting "Go China!" grew quiet in a display of mourning at 14:28, the exact time the quake hit.
$1.8bn in donations
The suffering of earthquake victims has prompted more than US$1.8bn in donations from Chinese organisations and individuals.
China has begun moving some of the injured to other provinces for treatment. More than 200 arrived in southern Guangzhou province on Wednesday, where local patients gave up their hospital rooms to make space, state TV reported.
The confirmed death toll from the earthquake rose to 41 353, Cabinet spokesperson Guo Weimin said on Wednesday. Another 32 666 remained missing. The government has previously said the final deaths will surpass 50 000.
- AP