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Tens of thousands of residents in Ninger county, Yunnan province, have been forced to sleep in the open since a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook the area in the early hours of Sunday.

In the county's central Chayuan Square, dozens of families queued up under the scorching sun yesterday for a tent, while many others were still waiting for  temporary shelter.

In an open-air track and field stadium just three minutes' drive from the square, hundreds of other families were busy setting up tents in the searing heat amid dozens of aftershocks.

The county is believed to have been the epicentre of the quake and the  local government ordered the massive makeshift housing programme after widespread damage to residential buildings was reported.

Xinhua said the quake killed at least three people, injured more than 300 and affected  536,000.

The central government has pledged 27 million yuan in aid for quake-stricken areas.

Crammed into a tent with nine family members, Wang Sirong said the heat inside  was unbearable, but he felt much safer camping in the square.

Mr Wang said his house, just a few blocks from the square, had developed a deep crack and the family was surviving on snacks and bottled water. 'We haven't been able to wash for nearly two days.'

Mr Wang said nobody had told them how long they would need to stay outdoors and he wished he had brought more quilts with him before fleeing  his house.

While military and police officers were  conducting rescue operations yesterday in downtown Ninger and along a key highway linking the county to the rest of the region, most quake victims in rural areas were left to fend for themselves.

In Kune village, almost all the houses sustained extensive damage and had either  collapsed or were uninhabitable. Most adults were sleeping in makeshift shelters they quickly put up near their houses.

Villager Zhao Guizhi  took shelter with her husband and their young son in a plastic-covered vegetable greenhouse after their two-storey, wooden-framed house  was severely damaged.

The 43-year-old mother of two said they were able to escape unharmed because her family normally got up early in the morning to open their roadside breakfast stall.

Their eldest son was away studying at college.

However, single mother-of-two Zhou Huiyun  was less fortunate. She was buried under the rubble of her house and although she was pulled out alive, she is paralysed from the waist down. She had been admitted to hospital.

Rescuers had started erecting tents for the young and elderly outside the village, but families wanted a shelter where they could  be together.

Classes in Ninger have been suspended and electricity supplies had yet to be reconnected yesterday to the county of more than 100,000 people.

The quake was the strongest in the area in almost 30 years,  residents said. It was also felt throughout Puer  - formerly called Simao  - and other nearby cities, prompting many residents to desert their apartments and camp in the streets.

Though the number of casualties and injuries is not  high, financial losses  are likely to be enormous for the county's poverty-stricken farmers and its administration.

Ms Zhao said she hoped the government would step in quickly to help 'otherwise we will never get back on our feet'.

'We spent all our life savings to build the house and I don't know if we can have a place to live at all,' she said, trying to hold back tears.

Ms Zhao said they  made about 700 yuan a month and hardly had any money left after paying tuition fees for their elder son.

Many villagers were concerned that  the annual monsoon season, due to start in  two weeks, would  exacerbate their hardship.



Yunnan quake's homeless queue for tents under a scorching sun