Quake-toppled buildings in SW China to be rebuilt by mid 2013

All houses collapsed in the multiple earthquakes that struck part of southwestern Yunnan province on Sept. 7 will have been rebuilt by next June, rescue authorities said late Saturday. The residents' homes will be first rebuilt, followed by cultural, education and health infrastructures and then government buildings, the rescue headquarters said in a statement. While stepping up the emergency rescue efforts and secondary disaster precautions, the quake relief should shift the focus more to temporary settlement and reconstruction, it said. A total of 201,000 residents have been relocated in the city of Zhaotong, it added. Multiple earthquakes, measuring up to 5.7 on the Richter scale, struck Zhaotong's Yiliang county and its neighboring areas in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, killing 81 people and injuring more than 800 others.