Gansu villages remain cut off

Quake-hit remote villages in Gansu Province are still unable to receive relief supplies and rescue equipment thanks to damaged roads, although transport is open and power supplies have been resumed in most areas of the hardest-hit county, Minxian.

"In those villages, communications and power are still not available due to severe damage," Yao Qiang, an official with the Communist Youth League Committee of the county, told the Global Times Tuesday.

The 6.6-magnitude earthquake Monday that hit parts of the province on Monday has killed at least 95 people and injured hundreds.

Over 324,000 people from 117 townships in seven counties were affected.

The county suffered the majority of casualties, with 92 dead, 598 injured and one missing. The neighboring Zhangxian county and nearby city of Longnan reported one and two deaths, respectively.

Some 46,000 rooms collapsed and another 52,000 were severely damaged, and the direct economic losses reached 3.5 billion yuan ($570 million), the city government of Dingxi said Tuesday.

Yao said the food supply in the county is basically sufficient at the moment, but tents and clothes are badly needed, as it is cold every evening and the rain is coming.

He also urged more psychologists to visit and provide help to stricken residents.

Wang Jianpeng, a 24-year-old farmer from Hetuo township of Minxian, told the Global Times that the back wall of his yard collapsed, and his house cracked, but no news of the dead or injured had been heard in the village.

Wang's family now lives in a makeshift shelter, where they cook noodles and potatoes rescued from their old house.

Wang helped to unload the tents, instant noodles and water in the township Tuesday morning, where the goods were distributed first to where they are most needed. "We haven't received any food or tents."

Most of the injured were sent to the People's Hospital and Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital of Minxian county. Such hospitals mainly provide conventional medical treatments. The institution told the Global Times that it has used all space available to receive patients, and now the corridors and even the garage are full of quake injured as the space available is far from enough.

Makeshift police stations have been established in damaged villages to help residents replace their lost ID cards.

The Red Cross Society of China transferred another 2,000 quilts and 4,200 cotton coats to the quake-hit area from the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region at 3 pm Tuesday.

The Ministry of Finance said Tuesday 500 million yuan has been allocated as quake relief funds.