Doctor's mission: prevent disease after China quake

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

DUJIANGYAN, China (AFP) — Xiao Jinsong is racing against time to rescue survivors of last week's massive earthquake in southwest China, but he is not searching amid the rubble.

The doctor and his medical colleagues are trying to save those who escaped the quake alive but, officials say, now face a major risk of illness in makeshift tent cities.

They say the fight against contagious diseases is now a top priority almost one week after the 7.9-magnitude quake shook southwest China, leaving nearly five million people homeless.

Dujiangyan, a city of 60,000 people about 50 kilometres (32 miles) from the quake's epicentre, was one of the areas hardest hit by the disaster which the government estimates killed more than 50,000 people.

Temporary villages of...