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BEIJING: Premier Wen Jiabao has warned winter will bring hardship for people in China's quake zone, as he indicated the confirmed death toll from the disaster was over 80,000, state media reported on Wednesday.
On a trip to southwest Sichuan province on Tuesday to mark 110 days since the 8.0-magnitude quake struck there, Wen said the rebuilding of homes and infrastructure remained the most urgent task, the People's Daily said.
Speaking to journalists in Yingxiu, the epicentre of the May 12 earthquake, he warned of problems in the upcoming winter, when the average temperature will be 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).
"We have plans to quicken the rebuilding of homes in the quake-hit areas, but we just cannot rebuild all damaged houses before we enter winter," he was quoted as saying by the paper, the Communist Party's mouthpiece.
Wen also told reporters that the number of dead amounted to over 80,000 people, suggesting the official death toll would increase dramatically from the current tally of 69,226 dead, with another 17,923 missing.
China's State Council did not respond to an AFP enquiry seeking to clarify the death toll. The official Xinhua news agency's latest reports on the quake maintained figures of about 69,000 dead and 18,000 missing.
Wen's visit came after a smaller 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked a mountainous region that spans Sichuan and neighbouring Yunnan province on Saturday, killing at least 40 people.
- AFP/so
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