
Quake survivor Li Daoping stands in front of the prefab he
built in Magui Village, Zundao Township of Mianzhu City in southwest China's
quake-hit Sichuan Province August 7, 2008. The Sichuan Provincial Government
announced on August 12, 2008 that the 10 million people or 4.45 million
households, whose homes were destroyed by the May 12 earthquake, had all moved
into makeshift houses by August 6, 2008.(Xinhua Photo)
CHENGDU, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- For Wang Zhengyou, whose life in the past
three months revolved around a tiny construction lot, crouching leisurely in a
sofa in his 70-square-meter prefab, with eyes riveted on the TV was a rare
pleasure.
The 33-year-old man is one of the ten million Sichuan people, whose homes
were devastated by a strong 8.0-magnitude earthquake three months before, to
have moved into their makeshift houses, and they will stay there for at least
four months.
With cement, bricks, wood, tarp and help from neighbors, Wang built a cozy
one-bedroom "apartment" for his three-member family. He got 2,000 yuan (about
285.7 US dollars) government subsidy.
Ten million people, or 4.45 million households, had moved into makeshift
houses by last Wednesday, said Hou Xiongfei, spokesman with the Sichuan
Provincial Government on Tuesday here at a press conference.
About two thirds of the households chose to build their prefabs, each
offered 2,000 yuan government subsidy, and the rest moved into houses built by
construction workers from other provinces and municipalities.
Hou said that all the government-built prefabs were relatively
concentrated, with public bathrooms, clinics, laundries and supermarkets
equipped to bring convenience to people there.
The State Council ordered on May 27 that other provinces and municipalities
should help the earthquake stricken areas in Sichuan and Gansu provinces to
rebuild their homes.
Construction teams from 25 provinces and municipalities rallied in the
3,400 sites of the six worst-hit cities and counties including Wenchuan,
Qingchuan and Deyang, and built 500,000 makeshift houses and nearly 100,000
classrooms and clinic wards.
Prefabs in Wenchuan and Qingchuan were built about 30 to 40 km away to
their original sites, and the Beichuan county will be rebuilt on a totally
different site.
"It's more comfortable to live in a house built with my own hands, I will
watch the Olympic Games in the house," said Wang.
Wang, who was a migrant worker in south Guangdong Province, rushed back
home after the May 12 earthquake, which claimed nearly70,000 lives, only to find
his parents had died in the earthquake and his wife and son were homeless.
He had to go from scratch and build a shelter for his wife and son.
There is still a relatively bumpy road ahead for Sichuan, a province which
is now striving to build sufficient permanent structures for the 10 million
people before the year end, said Tian Wen, chief engineer of the provincial
construction bureau.
"We will try to provide six million people permanent buildings before next
January," said Tian, admitting he was not sure whether his bureau will reach the
target.
"The problem is we lack building materials and our building speed is not
fast enough," said Tian.
The central government enlisted many outdoor travel products and supplies
companies to manufacture tents and prefabs just after the earthquake.
President Hu Jintao visited two tent manufacturers in eastern Zhejiang
Province in late May, urging them to produce as many as possible to meet the
needs of the quake-hit zone.
Wang, who was once worried about the winter shelter for his wife and son,
can now start to consider the timetable for leaving home and resuming his work
in Guangdong.