Chinese Quakes Leave 120,000 Homeless

                 Red Cross says the homeless left stranded in
                 sub-zero temperatures urgently need winter coats,
                 cooking equipment and basic food

                 BEIJING -- A double earthquake which rocked
                 south-west China has left about 120,000 people
                 homeless in overnight temperatures that plunge well
                 below zero, the Red Cross said yesterday.

                 There is an urgent need for winter coats, cooking
                 equipment and basic food in the stricken region of
                 Yunnan province, said a statement from the International
                 Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies
                 (IFRCRCS).

                 However, its acting representative in Beijing, Mr Jim
                 Robertson, said the local authorities were coping well
                 with the fall-out from Saturday's two large quakes.

                 "There seems to be a very well-coordinated response,
                 so we are focusing our efforts on those who have been
                 left homeless," he said, adding that temperatures in the
                 area fall as low as minus six deg C at night.

                 He also said that the IFRCRCS was targeting major
                 regional donors for help.

                 The civil affairs bureau in Yunnan province has said that
                 30,000 homes were destroyed by the quakes,
                 measuring 5.9 and 6.5 on the Richter Scale, and that
                 damage was estimated at close to US$75 million
                 (S$130 million). The quakes left five dead and about
                 1,550 injured, officials added.

                 The official Xinhua news agency reported that more than
                 65,000 buildings either collapsed or were damaged
                 around the sparsely populated epicentre in Yao'an
                 county, 200 km west of the provincial capital Kunming.

                 However, both the local government and the Red Cross
                 expressed relief at the relatively low casualty figure,
                 saying many residents fled their homes after the first
                 temblor at 6.06 am and escaped the larger quake 90
                 minutes later.

                 Earthquakes often occur in Yunnan as it sits to the east
                 of the Tibetan Plateau and is situated along a geological
                 fault that runs south into Laos and Vietnam.

                 An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 shook
                 north-western Laos and was felt in northern Thailand
                 early yesterday with no reports of damage or injuries.

                 The last major quake in the Yunnan region occurred on
                 Nov 19, 1998, when two temblors measuring 5.0 and
                 6.2 on the Richter scale killed three and injured 1,500
                 people in the city of Ninglang.

                 The worst to hit the region was on Jan 5, 1970, when
                 15,621 people were killed in an earthquake which
                 measured 7.8 in magnitude. -- AFP, Xinhua, AP

                      Adapted from The Straits Times, 21 Jan 2000.