(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-04 20:27

BEIJING  -- China's State Council published on Friday guidelines on post-quake reconstruction, emphasizing house repair and building work.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, stressed giving priority to repairing and building houses for people whose homes were destroyed during the May 12 tremor.

"Check for repairable buildings and fix them as soon as possible; scientifically choose sites, economically use land and set down reasonable quake-resistant levels for building new houses," the guidelines said.

Areas suitable for living must be marked off based on scientific standards and evaluations on geology and natural resources. Meanwhile, the country will see to the reasonable distribution regarding population, industry and productivity, according to the guidelines.

The reconstruction of buildings should take local's advice into account, and be based on governmental subsidy, social support and local's own power.

All the measures were aimed to let quake-hit people live in "safe and comfortable houses as soon as possible," said the guidelines.

The 8.0-magnitude earthquake that jolted Sichuan and the neighboring provinces had killed at least 69,196 people as of Friday noon, with 374,176 injured and 18,385 missing.