Farmers in Bachu County in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have all moved into new houses rebuilt after a serious earthquake on February 24, with all schools providing new classrooms, according to local officials.

They added that county government has spent 150 million yuan (US$18 million) in rebuilding 23,000 houses, and 62 million yuan (US$7.5 million) on the restoration of 89 schools.

On Feb. 24, a devastating earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted the Kashi region in western Xinjiang, killing 268 people and leveling thousands of buildings to the ground.

Memet, a farmer whose house was destroyed in the quake, now has a new house with four rooms. He invested about 3,000 yuan (US$362.89) into it, and the government gave around 10,000 yuan (US$1,209.63). "It can stand a severe earthquake," he said.

Despite the disaster, the county has had a good harvest of cotton this year, and the rising price of cotton on the market will also benefit the affected farmers a lot. According to the county government, the average net annual income of each farmer is likely to exceed 1,500 yuan (US$181.44), which is 300 yuan (US$36.29) more than last year.

(Xinhua News Agency November 31, 2003)