Earthquake Costs China Over ?73bn

China's devastating earthquake in Sichuan has cost it more than 1 trillion yuan (?73bn), a senior official has said.

The figure, which amounts to around 4% of the country's GDP last year, is far higher than the original estimate of 67bn yuan of direct economic losses.

One of the province's vice-governors told the figure to a visiting US delegation.

It came as a senior official warned that heavy rain and the risk of aftershocks from the 7.9 magnitude earthquake in May could create more "quake lakes" and that 35 bodies of water already formed by landslides still pose a threat to hundreds of thousands of people downstream.

Deputy water resources minister Jiao Yong told a news conference in Beijing that work to drain the lakes had largely been successful.

But he added: "Rainfall is expected to be much higher than in previous years during the flood season, and there may be large floods."

The education ministry said yesterday that it had issued safety guidelines for new schools in the quake zone, amid widespread anger over poorly constructed buildings that collapsed during the earthquake, killing many children.

A notice on its website said reconstruction should be "meticulously and carefully" carried out, adding: "Every school in the affected areas should be made to be the firmest and safest, so as to not worry parents and the public."

The statement added that departments were working together to establish earthquake-resistant building standards.

Chen Baosheng, a professor of Tongji University, who studies disaster prevention in buildings, told Reuters that previous construction standards in earthquake-hit areas had not been followed very well.

But he added: "It's not difficult to follow these standards and I think people will."