A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Yushu County, Qinghai Province at 7:49 AM on April 14. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has put this issue top on its agenda and Minister Li Yizhong, who was then accompanying President Hu Jintao in his trip to U.S., called immediately to require deployment for earthquake relief work. MIIT quickly formed a Steering Group for Earthquake Relief headed by Miao Wei, Under Secretary of the Party Group and Vice Minister of MIIT. Contingency plans were developed for emergency telecommunications enablement and industrial product supply. Work-shift schemes have been enhanced to ensure 24-hour on-duty, emergency telecommunications enablement, security of goods and material supply for quake relief and information reporting. Communication has been strengthened with emergency management offices under the State Council and the General Staff Department, Ministry of Health, China Earthquake Administration, Economic Commission of Qinghai Province and Bureau of Telecommunication Administration of Qinghai Province to ensure updates on local situation and demand. Zhu Hongren, member of MIIT Party Group and Chief Engineer, with staff from Bureau of Operation Monitoring and Coordination and Bureau of Telecommunication Administration, accompanied Vice Premier Hui Liangyu to quake-hit areas and a frontline working group was formed on site to direct efforts for emergency telecommunication enablement and material supply security. The group holds routine meetings every day to report on progress and deploys work for telecommunication enablement, medical supply allocation, transportation and storage and digging machine assembling and transportation. The group makes every plan meticulously and ensures its implementation.

I. Emergency Telecommunication Enablement

First, damage to telecommunication facilities. The earthquake disrupted telecommunications between Yushu Prefecture and Nangqian, Zaduo, Zhiduo and Qumalai. Due to power cuts and damaged relay optical cables and telecom base stations, 111 out of the 185 base stations in Yushu were out of service. (Among the 185 base stations, 46 belong to China Telecom with 26 out of service, 98 belong to China Mobile with 64 out of service and 41 belong to China Unicom with 21 out of service.)