Official stresses make-shift toilets for quake-hit areas

Local authorities have initiated an emergency plan to meet people's needs for make-shift toilets in Lushan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, after it was hit by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake on Saturday, said an official on Thursday.

"It is a priority to clean and transfer rubbish, carry out disinfection in toilets, and reconstruct sub-standard dry latrines," said Wang Huaqing, official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Wang said that the dozen public restrooms in the quake-hit areas are far from sufficient for the number of people crowded into the county, and the shortage of water and electricity would hinder the flushing of human waste, which will raise the risk of enteric infectious diseases.

Zhu Xiaoping, vice director of the local center for disease control and prevention, said local authorities have set up more make-shift toilets. Donated towable facilities have already been put into use, mainly around schools and hospitals as well as along roadsides.

"Local health organs will conduct comprehensive disinfections over the county after the rubbish and waste is cleared out," said Zhu.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs on Monday dispatched 200 make-shift toilets to the area.

Special report: 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolts Ya'an, Sichuan