Villagers receive care after earthquake

Despite some cracks appearing in the walls of her house and some bricks falling down during the earthquake that struck Xinjiang on 23rd of Jan, Amragul Mamat didn't feel too nervous about the situation.

"After the earthquake, village cadres knocked on doors, asking us to move to the resettlement sites," she said. "At the resettlement site, they distributed food such as bread, water and eggs, which made us calm down."

Mamat's house is located in Karasu village of Wushi county, and was built in 2012 with a government subsidy of 50,000 yuan ($7,000).

"I believe with everyone's help and effort, everything will be fine," she said.

All 725 villagers of Karasu village have moved into 25 tents with electric heaters, folding beds and cotton quits after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that hit Wushi county in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Tuesday, leaving three dead and five injured.

After the earthquake, 30 village cadres were divided into four groups and visited door-to-door to check on the safety of the residents of 415 households, according to Wu Hui, an official from the county's administration for market regulation, who has been appointed as village secretary.

"Thanks to the construction of earthquake-resistant housing, there were no casualties reported in the village," Wu added.

"We have distributed 364 down coats to women and children," said Yang Deji, deputy director of the county's women's federation. "And 500 sweaters, 1,000 quilts, 500 coats and other materials will be distributed to villagers to warm affected people."

Data from the China Earthquake Networks Center show that as of 8 am on Wednesday, over 101 aftershocks above magnitude 3 had been recorded, with the strongest reaching magnitude 5.7.

Aman Mamat, deputy director of the region's emergency management department, told China Central Television that a full search and rescue has been completed.

"Through research and judgment, there is still the possibility of aftershocks around magnitude 6 near the epicenter," he said. "Therefore, we can't be relaxed about the prevention work."

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management have allocated disaster relief funds totaling 30 million yuan, the Ministry of Finance said on its website on Wednesday.

The funds will be used to support disaster relief and emergency rescue work, focusing on search and rescue, the relocation of affected people, secondary disaster detection, the repair of damaged homes, and other areas, it said.