Chinese officials rule out outbreak of epidemics in earthquake zone

Yongan: China's government said on Monday it could guarantee there would be no epidemics in the earthquake zone, while some survivors complained their farmland was being bulldozed to make way for temporary housing.

Where bodies crushed under buildings in the devastating May 12 tremor could not be cremated, they had been been buried deep underground and far from water sources to prevent contamination, Health Ministry spokesman Mao Qunan said.

Camps had been disinfected and people warned of health risks.

"Theoretically, when there is a large movement of people, the risk increases for the spread of transmittable diseases," he said.

"We have the ability and the confidence to guarantee there will be no epidemics after the disaster."

Mobilisation

China has mobilised its military to unblock roads, clear rubble and deliver food, water and tents to millions displaced by the quake. Rescuers are racing to clear swollen "quake lakes" and set up housing before the summer rainy season begins.

A total of 69,019 people have been confirmed dead as of midday yesterday, with 18,627 missing and 373,573 injured.

A tent city has sprung up in Anxian, just off a main road running through mountain fields of corn and watermelons. Pre-fabricated houses are going up, as they are elsewhere, to provide more long-term shelters away from the stifling heat of leaky tents.

The people, mostly farmers from Chaping near the epicentre of the quake, have nothing to do.

Zhang Zhaohua, 24, sat in her tent with her 22-month-old boy and said adults could stand the heat and the unusual diet of instant noodles, served morning and night.

"It's fine for us, but not for the little ones," she said.

In nearby Yongan, 95 per cent of the houses are uninhabitable, but many people survived the quake because they were out in the fields when it struck in the early afternoon.

Some were grumbling that their farmland, with crops also including beans, cabbages and citrus fruit, was now being bulldozed for the prefabricated housing.

Local official Zhang Piwu could not give a timeline for repairing those houses which remained, damaged but intact.

Shifang (AFP) Thousands of soldiers scoured China's mountainous earthquake zone yesterday for a military helicopter that was carrying injured quake survivors when it crashed in fog at the weekend.

There was no clue as to the fate of the five crew members and 14 passengers who were on board the army helicopter when it went down Saturday in Sichuan province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

It said four rescue helicopters had launched missions in the area where the crash was believed to have taken place, assisted by more than 3,000 soldiers on the ground.

"The wreckage of the crashed helicopter has not yet been found," the ministry said, adding that a "continuous and all-out air and ground search" had been launched.

Military personnel said they believed the crash took place in the vicinity of Zhaogong Mountain in Sichuan province, which bore the brunt of the May 12 quake.

The helicopter was on a mission to carry epidemic prevention experts to Li county, and was returning with seriously injured residents.

Reflecting the gruelling routines forced on military chopper crews in the quake zone, it had completed 63 flights since the earthquake on May 12.