By Reuters,
Beijing : Quake survivors living in prefabricated housing in China’s mountainous Sichuan province need 3.6 million quilts and the same number of cotton-padded clothes to survive the winter, state media said on Monday.
More than 80,000 people were killed in the May 12 disaster, with millions now living in resettlement sites surrounded by the rubble of their old homes and facing a colder winter than normal.
“Weather experts have forecast that temperatures in the quake-hit areas will be 0.5 degree Celsius to 1 C lower than usual. The areas are likely to get more rain, snow and frost too,” the China Daily said, quoting provincial government officials.
The temperature was 4 C (39 Fahrenheit) on Monday while the temperature in the Chinese capital, Beijing, in the north, was well below freezing.
The quake damaged the homes of more than 3.5 million families in rural areas, where Spartan coal-pellet heating is the norm.
“Though many of these families have been moved to proper structures, about 530,000 of them will have to stay in prefabricated houses this winter,” the newspaper said.