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SCMP Reporter

THOUSANDS of villagers in Wuding county, Yunnan Province, are camping out in makeshift tents in dread of predicted aftershocks from the massive earthquake which struck last Tuesday.

    In Fawo, a town badly hit by the earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale, hundreds of victims now face a bleak winter in open fields in tents of rugs or plastic after losing homes and possessions.

 There seems little chance their homes can be repaired before the winter.

 Medical treatment for many of the injured has been grossly inadequate. Fever victim Yang Shaozu, 15, is one of only about 20 people who have been sent to a temporary clinic in Fawo.

 In Chadian, a town between Wuding and Fawo that was also badly damaged, the desperation was even more obvious.

 Many of the victims, too poor to help themselves, are pinning their hopes on anyone who passes.

 When our taxi passed Chadian, two little girls and an old man waved frantically, rushing towards us. 'We have lost our house. Please have mercy on us and give us some money to build a new one for my family,' said the weeping old man.

 The aftershocks scare still haunts villagers - teenage girls ran for shelter when one mistook a swinging pole as the sign of another tremor.

 Villagers were just beginning their day when the earthquake struck - less than seven hours after the end of the lunar calendar's 'leap eighth month', traditionally a time of great disaster and misfortune.

 The quake has so far claimed 46 lives, with 350 seriously injured and 70,000 others suffering lesser injuries. More than 870,000 have been left homeless and about 1.49 million affected in some way, say officials.

 By yesterday, the Yunnan Red Cross had received 100,000 yuan (HK$93,000) in aid from its Beijing headquarters, and 250,000 yuan raised within the province.

 But local relief workers say they need overseas assistance. A Red Cross worker in Fawo added: 'We're so poor. It's impossible for our country to be self-sufficient in relief work.'  However, the Chinese Red Cross has indicated it will not issue an international appeal for assistance because 'the conditions for overseas appeals are not ripe'.

 Zhang Xia, Secretary-General of Yunnan Red Cross said: 'The Government and the Red Cross are worried the effects of launching appeals overseas may not be good.'  Poor co-ordination among relief workers and officials is apparently also hampering operations. In Fawo, dozens of hospital beds were left empty in open ground after cracks developed in the hospital building.

 And while homeless victims sleep in makeshift tents, relief workers are lodging in army tents. Local officials said it was an 'expedient' measure because relief departments lacked other resources to build workers' temporary housing.

 'The army tents belonged to government departments, not ours, while the beds belonged to the hospital,' one relief worker said.



Thousands camp out in rising fear of tremors