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China

Operation Mercy personnel assessing the needs in the earthquake region of Xinjiang, China

On Monday 24th February an earthquake struck in the Xinjiang region, North West China. More than 500,000 lives have been affected and the continuing aftershocks of more than 3,000, some reaching 5.8 on the Richter scale, are making reconstruction an extremely hazardous task.
After speaking with the Red Cross in China we have established that the greatest needs are the rebuilding of houses and schools. 80,000 homes and 117 schools that provide education for 20,000 students in the regions have been destroyed. For the 500,000 who have lost homes it is imperative that the rebuilding work is completed as soon as possible.

The area where the disaster has occurred is a barren region and the necessary resources are located a considerable distance away. The Chinese Red Cross, are looking at building the necessary storage facilities in the various regions to cope with this problem.

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