Heavy rain has lashed Yunnan Province hindering the work of relief teams after a 6.4 scale earthquake killed three and affected over a million people on Sunday.
The skies opened on Tuesday afternoon but had subsided by evening in Ning'er County, the most afflicted area. However, the bad weather should continue for the next five days.
"More tents are what the region needs the most. We are lacking around 15,000 tents." said Ma Bin, director of Ning'er County Civil Affairs Bureau. By Tuesday, the region had distributed around 5,000 tents.
Latest official statistics show one million residents in 224,000 households were affected in the quake in Pu'er City. Of the 360,000 houses that received structural damage, around 90,000 collapse and 120,000 are inhabitable.
Over 1,400 troops and police intervened to help the rescue efforts and to deal with the 180,000 displaced residents.
By Tuesday, most of the Ning'er power grid had been restored with electricity still cut to ten villages, according to Zhao Jianning, deputy general manager of Yunnan Power Grid Company.
Many buildings in schools were also damaged in the quake but 80 tents have been erected in Pu'er Middle School to ensure the 667 students can sit their national college entrance exams scheduled from Thursday to Saturday.
(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2007)