State councilor stresses all-out relief after quakes hit

BEIJING — State Councilor Wang Yong on May 22 demanded all-out efforts to organize relief work and rescue the injured after earthquakes hit the provinces of Yunnan and Qinghai.

People's lives should be taken as the top priority, said Wang, who also leads the State Council's earthquake relief headquarters.

Work groups and disaster relief forces have been dispatched soon after the quakes, Wang said at a meeting to arrange disaster relief work, stressing real-time monitoring to verify the disaster situation.

He also demanded more efforts to search for trapped people and rescue the injured.

Those affected by the quakes should be relocated and their basic needs should be met, Wang said.

He also urged urgent repairs of the damaged roads and bridges, noting that crucial infrastructure should be kept working.

Information related to the disasters should be released in a timely manner, he added.

Four earthquakes with a magnitude over 5.0 struck Yangbi Yi autonomous county in the Dali Bai autonomous prefecture of Yunnan from 9 pm to 11 pm on May 21. At 2:04 am on May 22, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake jolted Maduo county in the Golog Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Qinghai province.