The army, police and civilians launched a joint action program in Wenchuan, the epicenter of the May 12 quake, yesterday to prevent an epidemic outbreak in the quake-hit areas.

A special disease-prevention team left Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, for Chengdu by plane yesterday. The team members, all with doctoral degrees, are from the Military Veterinary Institute of the Military Academy of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

The experts' job will be to sterilize carcasses that can spread disease, said Gao Hongwei, head of the institute. This is very important because thousands of corpses and carcasses are still buried under rubble in the quake-hit areas.

As the quake relief work enters the 10th day, disease prevention has become one of the top priorities for the authorities and rescuers.

Jiang Tianjun, a doctor with the PLA's No 302 Hospital in Beijing, urged people to be vigilant against rats, mosquitoes, flies and bugs. Contaminated water should be pumped out or cleared from residential areas and pesticide sprayed to kill mosquitoes and prevent their eggs from hatching.

A recent China Center for the Control of Animal Diseases pamphlet on prevention of animal diseases advises people not to cut, eat, sell or transport dead animals. All carcasses must be sterilized and buried at least 2 m below the ground.

Authorities should monitor the situation closely, and supervise animal breeding, slaughtering, processing, and the transport and storage of meat strictly, he said. Military rescue workers have begun relocating residents, mostly villagers, away from their homes in the worst hit areas as the first step in disease prevention.

A 3,200-member team of the People's Armed Police had resettled 4,149 villagers from the remote areas of Wenchuan till yesterday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2008)