Officials asked to check epidemic in flood-hit China

BEIJING - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Sunday asked authorities to be prepared to check the outbreak of epidemic and ensure flow of blocked rivers, weeks after floods devastated the country’s northwest part claiming 1,435 lives.

The focus of relief efforts have been shifted to helping survivors get their lives back in order, Wen said while visiting the mudslide-stricken Zhouqu county in Gansu province Saturday and Sunday. He had also visited the area Aug 8 when the disaster struck.

The most pressing task was to help the survivors get on with their lives, which meant providing enough food, clothing and medical care to them as well as sheltering the homeless. Preparations for the freezing winter also needed to be concentrated on, Xinhua quoted the prime minister as saying.

Wen ordered measures to be carried out to ensure no epidemic outbreaks and that the blocked river be drained quickly. He urged that schools resume in early September.

Wen also asked officials to keep close surveillance around the barrier lakes and geologically unstable areas.