Scared residents camp out in open in Jiangxi
By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-28 05:34

In Jiujiang, thousands of people were seen crowding city streets, rattled by a series of aftershocks and fearing another strong quake. Some wrapped themselves in blankets temperatures range between 10 C and 20 C.

The city authorities sent inspection teams to mark out unsafe homes.

The famous Lushan Mountain resort, which was about 30 kilometres away from the epicentre, was unscathed, according to a Xinhua report.

In and around Ruichang, a total of 420,000 people had left their homes, according to Xinhua. "Almost everyone in Ruichang is out on the streets," said a civil affairs official surnamed Liu.

The provincial earthquake forecast centre said no major quake was expected but warned that there could be many aftershocks.

The last destructive earthquake to hit the regions was in Jiujiang in 1911, according to the head of the Jiangxi Earthquake Forecast Centre.

He also said that aftershocks have been abating despite "many measuring between 1.0 and 3.0 on the Richter scale near the epicentre on the weekend."

Debris is seen at a street after an earthquake struck in Jiujiang, east China's Jiangxi province, November 26, 2005. [newsphoto]

The tremor, which could be felt in cities hundreds of kilometres apart, caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

Sina.com website showed photos taken in the large industrial city of Wuhan, more than 100 kilometres from the epicentre of the earthquake, with cracked walls and toppled mannequins in shops. "It felt like someone was yanking you violently," a resident told sina.com.

The tremors were also felt in the city of Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province located 300 kilometres away, according to the China News Service.

Premier Wen Jiabao called Jiangxi Party head Meng Jianzhu, urging provincial and local governments to arrange food and shelter for residents. The central government has allocated 10 million yuan (US$1.23 million) as relief funds.

(China Daily 11/28/2005 page1)