Earthquake-affected villagers relocated to prefabricated houses

China

Earthquake-affected villagers relocated to prefabricated houses

2025-01-12 01:39 Last Updated At：15:47

Quake-affected villagers have been relocated to warm, safe and durable prefabricated houses from tents in succession as the disaster relief work shifted its focus to the resettlement of the affected population Saturday, the fifth day of a deadly earthquake in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

A total of 47,500 disaster-affected people have been relocated in more than 200 temporary resettlement sites after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Dingri County in the city of Xigaze at 09:05 on Tuesday, leaving 126 people dead and 188 others injured.

As seasonal temperatures can fall below minus 10 degrees Celsius, a key focus has been distributing winter relief items. Among them, 42,000 tents, folding beds, and cotton quilts have been allocated to the disaster-afflicted areas.

Construction of prefabricated houses began on Friday in the epicenter county of Dingri with each accommodating three to four people.

Out of the 56 affected households in Gurong Village, Dingri County, 23 moved to the prefabricated housing units first Saturday and the remaining would settle down there later that day.

Before their relocation, the disaster relief team assisted them in transferring their mattresses, folding beds, beddings and belongings from temporary tents to new accommodations and testing carbon monoxide alarms. Meanwhile, the team continued to search beneath the rubble, trying to recover the property of the affected people.

Neighboring Lhaze County, located 67 kilometers from the earthquake's epicenter, is among the regions most severely affected by the disaster.

At a resettlement site in the county's Xialasu Village, construction of prefab homes is also underway. These modular houses are designed with enhanced structural features to withstand earthquakes and strong winds.

Meanwhile, efforts are focused on establishing a reliable power supply for the site to provide essential services to those affected by the earthquake.

A total of 1,653 aftershocks had been detected as of 10:00 Friday with the strongest measuring 4.4 magnitude, and occurring about 18 kilometers from the epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake, local authorities said.

Tokyo stocks end higher as U.S.-Iran talks fuel cautious optimism

Tokyo stocks rose Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei stock index ending at a fresh record high, buoyed by optimism over a settlement in the Middle East conflict.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 1,654.93 points, or 2.68 percent, from Thursday at 63,339.07.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 38.65 points, or 1.00 percent, higher at 3,892.46.

"There was some optimistic trade around the latest U.S.-Iran talks, but this optimism seems to be based on the fact that things aren't getting drastically worse in the region rather than the situation improving significantly," Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN), recapped the day's developments.

"This optimism was most strongly on display, I think, in Tokyo today, where the Nikkei rose 2.7 percent with hopes for some relief on oil prices and other currently scarce materials. It's not just oil that is not getting out of the region. As we know, it's other petrochemicals and things like helium as well. The general performance was pretty strong. Metals producers were doing fairly well in Tokyo, but in Japan as well, the market is very much focused on AI stocks. And today, the gains were strong for SoftBank -- it was up almost 12 percent after a bit of a battering earlier in the week. And that SoftBank gain contributed nearly a third to the Nikkei's overall gains on Friday," said Pope.