Rebuilding fears worry Baoxing quake victims
Restored roads show isolated Sichuan county was spared quake's worst, but residents still fear they may be overlooked by government officials
The central and provincial governments may soon face a huge compensation bill in parts of Sichuan hit by Saturday's magnitude 7 quake, with residents of the formerly cut-off Baoxing county expressing concern about whether they will be given enough to fix the damage.
"I wish I will get enough money to rebuild my house, but I'm not optimistic," said Li Xiaofen, who said her house was destroyed in Baoxing, once reported to be one of the areas hit hardest by the quake and the last quake-hit area to be reconnected to the outside world. The death toll from the quake rose to 196 yesterday.
Li said she had very little confidence that the government would pay a fair compensation because there were too many people wanting to claim it.
Local officials had said that 60,000 people were stranded in the county after the quake struck on Saturday morning, with 26 people dead and more than 2,500 were injured. State-run Xinhua reported that all of the country's houses had been destroyed.
But yesterday, after roads connecting Baoxing to the outside world were repaired, people found that the main areas of the county escaped relatively unscathed compared with many other areas hit by the quake.