Quake leaves thousands without shelter

Thousands of earthquake survivors in western China prepared to spend a fourth night outdoors in freezing conditions as aftershocks continued to jolt the isolated area, a relief worker said today.

The casualty toll from the magnitude 6.8 earthquake, which devastated Xinjiang region on Monday and wrecked thousands of mud-brick houses, rose to 267 with the death overnight of a severely injured 67-year-old man.

The hardest-hit area, the desert farm town of Qongkurqak, has received about 2,200 tents to house the homeless but still needs up to 3,000 more, said Liu Xingping, an official on the area’s disaster committee. As many as 240 deaths were reported in the town.

Many survivors are catching colds as they sleep outdoors or in crude shelters made from scrap plastic, Liu said in Bachu.

No signs of more serious diseases have been reported, said an official of the Kashgar Epidemics Control and Prevention Centre in nearby Kashgar city.

Officials said 90% of Qongkurqak’s 30,000 people were forced out of their houses, many of which were levelled by the quake. Many of those killed and injured were sleeping or eating breakfast when their houses collapsed.

Aftershocks continued to rattle nerves today, although seismic activity in the area was decreasing.