Three fired for dereliction of duty in Dujiangyan, paper says

Three local officials from Dujiangyan have been sacked for dereliction of duty after the earthquake, according to the Guangzhou Daily.

The vice-director of the city's civil affairs bureau, Xiao Rong, a researcher at the city's archive bureau, Li Shu, and the party secretary of Tuanjie village in the town of Puyang, Liu Dingshuang, were fired on Sunday, it said.

The city party disciplinary watchdog said the civil affairs bureau official was sacked for not giving accurate statistics about the disaster.

Mr Li lost his job because he did not turn up for work after the earthquake, even after a colleague called him on Thursday to ask him to return to the office to help with relief work.

'His behaviour had a negative impact on cadres and the public and he was removed from his job,' the report quoted the watchdog as saying.

Mr Liu was fired because he was slack in leading villagers in rescue efforts and caring about the needs of the villagers - preferring to run his grocery store, according to the report.