China earthquake sites to open to tourists
Sections of streets, schools and bridges destroyed during last year’s massive earthquake in south-western China will soon be open to tourists, state media said today.
Ruins from the May 12 quake centred in Sichuan province that left almost 90,000 people dead or missing have become a draw for visitors, especially during national holidays, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
“There is a huge tourism market in the ruins,” Wu Mian, deputy director of the Sichuan provincial tourism department, was quoted as saying.
“We cannot block the tourists out,” he said. “We also hope the tourists watch their behaviour and not hurt the quake survivors’ feelings.”
He said the sites would include “schools, bridges, factories and streets” in devastated areas such as Dujiangyan, Pengzhou, Mianzhu and Yingxiu, a town in Wenchuan county, the epicentre of the 7.9-magnitude quake.
The report did not make clear whether the plans to cater for visitors meant that some ruins would be preserved rather than repaired or demolished. It also did not say when the sites would officially be open.
The report said Beichuan, a town so badly hit it has been relocated, was not included on the list. The ruins of Beichuan have been open only to former residents and relatives but the road in is crowded with vendors selling DVDs and laminated photos documenting the disaster.
Xinhua said the Donghekou Earthquake Relics Park, the first memorial park dedicated to the quake, has had more than 260,000 domestic and overseas tourists since it was opened last November.
The park contains the ruins of Donghekou village, where only 300 of more than 1,400 villagers survived a landslide triggered by the earthquake.
