Orderly relief efforts continue in quake-hit Gansu

JISHISHAN, Gansu Province, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- Hospitals in northwest China's Gansu Province are currently administering treatments to a total of 784 people injured in the 6.2-magnitude earthquake that jolted the province Monday, according to the provincial health authority on Thursday.

The quake occurred at 11:59 p.m. Monday and had a focal depth of 10 km. The epicenter Liugou Township is about 8 km from the county seat of the Bonan-Dongxiang-Salar Autonomous County of Jishishan in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, the death toll from the earthquake stood at 113 in Gansu.

The 784 injured people have been admitted to provincial, prefectural and county-level medical institutions in Gansu, said Bai Yuping, deputy director of the provincial health commission, at a press conference.

Bai said that 19 temporary medical treatment stations and one mobile hospital have been set up to meet the needs of people in the disaster-hit areas.

In the past few days, 21 medical teams have been swiftly dispatched to 35 affected villages to conduct door-to-door visits, Bai said.

A total of 102,000 boxes of essential medicines for common ailments like cold, trauma, digestive tract issues, as well as hypertension and diabetes, have been distributed to those in need while further arrangements are being made to send more to the earthquake-affected areas, he added.

A total of 28 national and provincial-level mental health experts have rushed to Gansu to offer psychological counseling to hospitalized patients and their companions, the families of the victims, and those affected by the earthquake, including disaster relief workers, Bai said.

He added that Gansu is working to set up 35 psychological counseling teams, consisting of 70 members, to visit the 35 villages affected by the earthquake and deliver in-home psychological counseling services. In addition, over 50 mental health experts from various parts of the country will be invited to carry out online psychological crisis intervention and health consultations for the local people.

Following the earthquake, the provincial housing and urban-rural development department promptly established a disaster relief headquarters and activated a Level-II earthquake emergency response, according to Qin Jun, an official with the department.

By 6 a.m. Thursday, engineering and technical experts completed the preliminary inspection of buildings in kindergartens, schools and hospitals in Jishishan, and conducted an emergency evaluation of all houses in 19 villages in the worst-hit townships of Dahejia and Liuji.

The supply of water and gas in the county has been restored, and heating is expected to be fully restored in the whole county as maintainers are rushing to repair individual damaged pipelines.

A comprehensive inspection of all houses in 12 townships in Jishishan is also underway and it is expected to be completed within this week, Qin told the press conference, adding that efforts will be made to prevent the possible occurrence of secondary disasters.

Disaster relief supplies from around the country started arriving in the affected area at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, offering strong support for the smooth progress of disaster relief efforts and the proper settlement of affected people, said Lu Ze, executive deputy head of Linxia.

"As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, we had received 5,100 cotton tents, 30,500 cotton jackets, 35,800 cotton quilts, 20,400 folding beds, 15,000 moisture-proof mats, 2,740 stoves and 30 area lights allocated by the central and provincial authorities," Lu added.

In the meantime, nearly 560,000 items of supplies donated by 137 enterprises, units and social organizations have also reached the quake-hit areas and have been distributed to the affected people.