By Lindsay Beck
CHENGDU (Reuters) - China, facing emergencies ranging fromswollen lakes to rehousing millions after last month'sdevastating earthquake, is looking to the future, planning ahuge reconstruction of schools, homes and hospitals reduced torubble.
The May 12 quake centred in southwest China's Sichuanprovince killed 69,122 people with 17,991 more missing andlikely dead, according to the latest official figures.
More than 15 million residents have been displaced and tentcities have been going up across the ravaged region as theusually sweltering summer settles in, making life far fromcomfortable and raising fears of epidemics.
Only 25 percent of damaged shops have managed to reopenover three weeks after the disaster, the Commerce Ministrysaid. The government has said reconstruction would take up tothree years.
The State Council, or cabinet, looked to the future,passing draft regulations on reconstruction, outliningrequirements for resettlement sites and safety standards ofpublic buildings like schools and hospitals.
In one of the most poignant dramas unfolding after thedisaster, tension has flared between local officials andparents whose children were killed in a disproportionate numberof school collapses.
Premier Wen Jiabao hosted Wednesday's meeting after theMinistry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction stressed in acircular that infrastructure restoration was a priority.
"Local governments must organise personnel to conductsafety appraisals of all school buildings as soon as possibleto ensure the safety of students as they return to school,"Xinhua news agency said, quoting the circular.
More than 9,000 children and teachers died under schoolbuildings, according to figures compiled by Reuters.
SCHOOL EXAMS POSTPONED
The annual National College Entrance Exams for high schoolstudents are scheduled to start across the country on Saturday,but they have been postponed for a month for some 96,000teenagers in 40 quake-hit counties in Sichuan.
The Education Ministry has ordered universities to recruitmore students -- two percent higher than the original quotas --from the quake area, many of whom have had to study inmakeshift classrooms in tents.
Troops and disaster officials have also been seeking todefuse threats from dozens of unstable "quake lakes" created byquake-caused landslides choking rivers and endangering hundredsof thousands of people downstream.
Water levels on the largest one, Tangjiashan, kept risingand the chance of the natural dam made of mud and rock burstingwas increasing, though the risk would be "controllable" as morethan 250,000 people had been evacuated, Chinese media reported.
Hanwang, one of the hardest-hit towns, was evacuatingthousands to safe ground as forecast heavy rain over theweekend raised fears of more landslides and the bursting ofquake lakes.
Hopes for the 19 people aboard a military helicopter thatcrashed on a May 31 relief mission have dimmed, after rescuersscrounged the area of high mountains and valleys for five daysto no avail.
Soldiers even scanned the bottom of a reservoir withreconnaissance equipment. The 19 included five crew and 14injured quake survivors and medical workers.
(Writing by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Nick Macfie)
