Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged local officials to make all-out efforts to resettle the evacuated citizens who were affected by an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7, which jolted east China's Jiangxi Province on Saturday.
Wen had talks via telephone with Meng Jianzhu, secretary of theJiangxi Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chen Jianmin, director of the China Seismological Bureau on Saturday night.
On behalf of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, Wen showed great concern for the affected citizens and asked about the progress of the disaster relief work.
Wen gave important instructions on the earthquake relief work in east and central China's provinces of Jiangxi, Hubei and Anhui.
He said the evacuated citizens who were affected by the earthquake must be resettled as soon as possible, so as to ensure that no one suffer famine and coldness. Senior citizens, women, children and patients should be taken care of in particular.
Crumbling houses reparation and reinforcement work need to be done as an urgent task, he said, so as to ensure no new injury and death in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Local officials should visit the earthquake-struck areas to help locals solve problems on the spot and maintain social order.
Seismological departments should strengthen supervision and prediction on the aftermath of the earthquake and help local governments do relief work, he said.
More than ten people were killed and 20 more injured in the earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale on Saturday in a region between Jiujiang and Ruichang in east China's Jiangxi Province.
The earthquake struck around 8:49 AM Saturday, the China National Seismic Observation Network said.
Currently, the resettlement of the victims, allocation of relief material, and reparation of crumbling houses are under way.
(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2005)
