Beijing (AFP)
Woman rescued after 9 days

China announced yesterday it would spend more than $13 billion on relief and reconstruction work following last week’s earthquake disaster, slashing its budget by five per cent to free up cash.
A woman trapped in a tunnel was rescued nine days after an earthquake struck central China – the only survivor found yesterday – while the government ordered budgets slashed to free money for relief efforts.
In a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, the government ordered 25 billion yuan ($3.6) for relief operations and 70 billion yuan for reconstruction, the government said.
“We have the determination, the confidence and the capability to overcome all difficulties and obstacles,” Wen was quoted as saying in a statement on the government’s website.
“(We) will resolutely strike at the two tasks of winning the earthquake rescue and relief battle, and advancing the fast-paced development of society and the economy,” he said.
The central government budget would be slashed by five per cent this year to save funds for the quake recovery, he said, adding that further reconstruction funding would be allocated in coming years if needed.
Wen unreeled a long list of difficulties facing his government, including feeding and housing the 5.2 million homeless, evacuating the injured from remote mountainous areas, and consoling and comforting the many orphans and parents who had lost their children.
“Backward sanitary conditions have made it easy for the spread of epidemics, and the damaged and unsafe reservoirs and hydroelectric projects and rivers blocked by landslides are among the many hidden dangers that can lead to more disaster,” Wen said.
“Resuming production in the disaster area and reconstruction in the aftermath of the disaster will be a very daunting task.”
Disaster relief funds would be allocated for feeding, providing clean water, clothing and sheltering the homeless, as well as for repairing infrastructure such as roads, reservoirs and dams, he said.
The reconstruction fund would be aimed at returning economic production to the region and restoring local government and social administration to normal operations, he said.
“We must continue to maintain earthquake relief and rescue efforts as the highest priority,” Wen said.
But he added that China also needed to look at other challenging economic issues, including its battle to tame inflation.
“One hand must grasp earthquake rescue and relief... and the other hand must grasp economic development and advance, strengthen and perfect the macroeconomic control of inflation and maintain the stable and fast-paced development of the economy,” Wen said.
He said that inflationary pressures, supply shortages of coal, electricity and oil in some parts of the nation, as well as an imbalance in fiscal payments, would continue to pose challenges to future fast-paced growth in China.
“The Wenchuan earthquake has created serious repercussions for the economy of the disaster area and has added new uncertain factors to the nation’s overall economy, but it has not changed the fundamentals of economic development,” he said.
State media has previously predicted that the disaster in the predominantly agricultural region would trim 0.2 percentage points from China’s soaring growth this year.
Last update on: 22-5-2008