Students in earthquake will return to school in fall

Students affected by a magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Sichuan province are expected to return to classrooms in September when the fall semester starts.

When the earthquake jolted Changning, a county under the administration of Yibin in Sichuan, on June 17, some 20,000 kindergarten, primary and middle school students were displaced because their classrooms were destroyed or damaged.

According to Yang Zhongcai, deputy secretary-general of the Yibin government, the government plans to reinforce slightly damaged school buildings and build new ones so that students can return in September.

About 50,000 houses were destroyed or damaged in the Changning earthquake zone. Of them, 15,000 were so badly damaged that they will be demolished.

"Another 12,000 slightly damaged houses will be reinforced," Yang said.

The Changning quake killed 13 people. Most of them perished after houses collapsed or building materials fell.

Yang said that reinforcement of slightly damaged houses will be completed in three months.

Construction of new houses for people whose houses were badly damaged in the earthquake and have to be demolished will be completed before the Spring Festival.

"So they can move to new houses for the most important festival of family reunion," Yang said.

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake took place in Changning at 12:26 pm on Wednesday.

No casualties were reported, and no houses collapsed.

Roughly 2,800 aftershocks in the Changning earthquake zone have taken place since June 17. The number of those wounded in the quake was initially put at 199. That number now stands at 286.

"One reason is that frequent aftershocks have injured more people," Yang said.

The quake resulted in the relocation of 80,000 people, 30,000 of whom lived in tents.

"Most of them no longer live in tents because they have sought shelter in relatives' and friends' homes," said Du Ziping, mayor of Yibin.