China prosecutors join quake school collapse probe

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese prosecutors have joined anofficial inquiry into 10 schools that collapsed in last month'sdevastating earthquake, preparing possible charges and seekingto ease public suspicions.

Authorities also began moving thousands of quake victimsnow menaced by the threat of new landslides caused bytorrential rain in the area.

In Shifang, one of several areas of the southwest provinceof Sichuan ravaged by the May 12 quake, the procuratorate, orprosecutor, will seek to ensure that probes into the sensitiveschool issue are done fairly, the Legal Daily reported onMonday.

Grieving parents across Sichuan have complained that adisproportionate number of children died in the quake, due tolax and corrupt building practices. The quake killed nearly70,000 people, with many thousands more missing and likelydead, and at least 9,000 of them were schoolchildren.

Police last week sought to stifle collective mourning andprotests by parents. But authorities in Shifang are alsoseeking to ease parents' doubts that any official inquiriesinto the collapsed schools will be impartial.

Prosecutors there will "enter early into investigationsinto project quality at 10 collapsed schools in the city togain first-hand material of construction quality at thecollapsed schools, launching preliminary inquiries and preparefor possible investigations into professional crimes," thenewspaper reported.

But the report also said many grieving parents doubt theimpartiality of official inquiries into the schools.

The investigators were obtaining geological reports,blueprints and documents on building and inspections and alsotaking samples of steel, concrete and bricks.

"With the participation of the procuratorate, the unsteadyemotions of some parents have been comforted," ananti-corruption investigator, Hu Hong, told the paper.

Shifang has a largely farming population of about 450,000and during the quake schools collapsed at Hongbai, Yinhua,Luoshui and other towns.

The quake-hit region has been threatened by reverberationsfrom the disaster, including swelling "quake lakes" caused byquake-triggered landslides.

On Monday, state television news reported that up to 70,000people in Wenchuan county, the site of the quake epicentre, hadto move to avoid possible landslides and mudslides caused byrain lashing shaken hillsides.

The brief report failed to shed light on how it was thatthe devastated county was still home to so many people or wherethey would be evacuated to.

As of Monday, 15,000 had already been moved and the otherswould be relocated over the coming week, a county officialsaid.

(Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)