China quake zone finishes 1st makeshift school

Children watch a movie in the newly-built Hope Primary School in Longtoushan Township in earthquake-hit Ludian County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Aug. 12, 2014. The Hope Primary School, sponsored by China Youth Development Foundation and Yunnan Youth Development Foundation, is the first one built after the 6.5-magnitude earthquake. The school, which is able to accommodate more than 500 students, has 20 prefabricated rooms with each covering 56.8 square meters. A 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Ludian of southwest China's Yunnan Province on Aug. 3, which claimed at least 617 lives and injured thousands of others. (Xinhua/Pei Xin)

The first temporary school in the parts of southwest China's mountainous Yunnan Province destroyed by last week's earthquake was finished on Tuesday.

The school is on the same campus as the badly damaged Longtoushan central primary school and comprises 20 prefab rooms. There are classrooms, dorms, reading rooms and a canteen, said Xu Meng, secretary general of the China Youth Development Foundation that paid for the facilities. It will allow 500 students from the badly damaged school to start the new semester as usual on September 1. The foundation is funding two more similar primary schools in Longtoushan, currently under construction.

Youth Development social workers have been sent to the quake zone to help organize summer camp activities and offer counselling to students.

The foundation has also offered 1,000 yuan (160 U.S. dollars) to each of 300 students of Longtoushan central primary school affected by the quake. The grant program is expected to eventually include 5,000 students in the area.

The quake killed more than 600 people and destroyed 80,000 homes in Ludian and environs.