The central government has allocated 180 million yuan (27.1 million U.S. dollars) for relief work after two major earthquakes hit northwest and southwest China.

Tourists gather their belongings at a hotel parking lot as they prepare to leave the mountainous earthquake zone on Wednesday, August 9, 2017. [File Photo: Xinhua]

A total of 80 million yuan has been given to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps to support relocation of disaster-hit people and renovation of their houses, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Another 100 million yuan has been allocated to Sichuan Province for similar purposes.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Jiuzhaigou, a UNESCO nature reserve and popular tourist destination in Sichuan Province, at 9:19 p.m. Tuesday, leaving 20 people dead and over 400 injured so far.

Thirty-two people were injured and more than 1,000 houses damaged in a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Jinghe County in Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang on Wednesday morning.

At least 36 people were killed and 13 others injured in an expressway accident in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday night, local authorities said Friday morning.

At least 36 people were killed and 13 others injured in an expressway accident in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday night, local authorities said Friday morning.

The accident occurred at around 11:34 p.m. when a coach hit the wall of the Qinling tunnel of the Xi’an-Hanzhong Expressway, according to the public security department of Shaanxi.

The coach was en route to Luoyang City, central China’s Henan Province, from Chengdu City, capital of southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

The injured have been rushed to the hospital.

Rescue work is underway.

Disadvantaged women need to receive more attention and protection through the implementation of the country’s first anti-domestic violence law ratified over a year ago, according to a workshop held on Aug. 9 in Beijing.

The workshop, jointly organized by UN Women, Equality NGO (Weiping) and Women’s Network against AIDS (WNAC), allowed dozens of participants from UN agencies, governments, academic centers and grass-root organizations to exchange views about how to protect marginalized women suffering from AIDS, disabilities, abuse and violence.

According to Yuan Wenli, Secretary-General of WNAC, in China, almost half of the women living with HIV have undergone at least one form of domestic violence, the rate being about 23 percent higher than the number of ordinary women so affected.

“Disadvantaged women, such as, women living with HIV, vare often more susceptible to violence and harm, and are more easily ignored,” said, Julie Broussard, country program manager of UN Women China.

“To achieve the goal of gender equality and women’s empowerment, stakeholders must pay close attention to disadvantaged groups, and speed up action.”

Feng Yuan, co-founder of the charity organization Equality and Coordinator of the project funded by United Nations Trust Fund, said her research indicated that concerns over domestic violence have been showing signs of abating.

Pertinent reports and micro-blogs concerning domestic violence reached 1,454 during the first half this year, while, last year it was 4,186. The figure also fell from 615 to 376 in March year-on-year, when China’s legislative and political advisory bodies held their annual meetings, known as the “two sessions.”

China’s anti-domestic violence law has empowered those threatened by domestic violence to file for court restraining orders within 48 hours. Once the order is mandated, it is effective for six months. Any violators of the order will face a fine of 1,000 yuan (US$152.6) or detention of up to 15 days.

According to the Supreme People’s Court, courts at all levels in the country had issued 1,284 orders by June, this year.

However, while briefing on the research, Feng revealed that the problems, such as, insufficient promulgation of gender equality in remote and underdeveloped regions, problems with victim privacy, unfriendly service attitudes and twisted views of domestic violence, still discourage women falling prey to domestic violence to seek legal protection.

WNAC representative Ming Mei said, research samples among women living near the border between China’s Yunnan Province and Myanmar have shown that those who found to be HIV positive probably undergo more domestic violence, which, to a certain extent, may result in severe and enduring depression.

According to Yuan, some victims of domestic violence have to put up with the bullying, abuse and stigma because they are not economically independent while the continuous insults and assaults have led to loss of personal dignity. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure they receive support, encouragement and hope.

Zhou Kai, National Program Officer of UNAIDS, said relevant authorities and organizations should form a concerted frontline to help disadvantaged women escape the shackle of domestic violence and prevent further bullying and abuse when they resort to public assistances. One of the services she exemplified is the buttressing of healthcare institutions.

“Doctors should ask more than simply prescribing medicines to people suspected of encountering domestic violence,” Zhou explained.

Guo Ruixiang, Program Coordinator of UN Women in China, called for the Chinese government to accept major accountability by involving the entire society in enforcing the anti-domestic violence law to prevent the victims from being further hurt while speaking out to call for help.

Senior Colonel Yang Yujun, who officially retired as a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday, often peppered his briefings with humor and internet buzzwords.

Yang, 47, who joined the ministry’s information office in 2010 and was appointed its director in 2015, stepped down due to the health issues of close family members.

Hailed by his colleagues as an independent and deep thinker, he also is regarded as someone who managed to connect with younger generations.

In 2013, during a news conference on the possibility of China’s first aircraft carrier, the CNS Liaoning, taking part in a far-sea operation, Yang said the vessel was not a zhainan, a word commonly used by netizens that translates as “indoorsy man”.

He also suggested in September that Ash Carter, then the US defense secretary, should not shuaiguo – a buzzword meaning to throw unwanted responsibility onto others – after the United States criticized China following a nuclear missile test by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“I love my uniform, and my job at the information office, and I have given my heart and soul throughout my military career,” Yang told Global Times.

He received a thundering ovation from the journalists in attendance at his final news conference in April.

Over the years, Yang has answered countless questions from reporters on urgent and sensitive issues.

In addition to a monthly news conference, the information office is tasked with public relations, crisis management, media exchanges, helping to draft the national security white paper, and interacting with netizens through social media.

“My family has been very supportive for my work, but I have owed my family too much, and now they need me more than ever,” Yang said. He said he has no other plans for the future, and would first spend his summer with his family.

Typically, senior government spokesmen and women go into business or teaching after retirement.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, 44, has been appointed as the new director of the ministry’s information office. He was previously deputy director and has been a spokesman since 2015.

He graduated from the People’s Liberation Army Institute of International Relations in 1995 and has also been a counselor at the ministry’s foreign affairs office before joining the information office.

When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Jiuzhaigou County, a popular tourist area in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, on Tuesday night, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda was quick to confirm that the staff and pandas at its base, 400 kilometers from epicenter, were safe.

However, the earthquake was near a panda migration corridor and might have an impact on the wild population in the area, said Gu Xiaodong, deputy director of a local wildlife protection station.

Giant pandas live mainly in the mountains of Sichuan and neighboring Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. Due to habitat loss and low birthrates, only about 1,800 still live in the wild, while some 400 live in captivity.

Panda reserves cover about 60 percent of their natural habitat and are home to 70 percent of the wild population. Most of the habitat is in Sichuan, where earthquakes and habitat fragmentation have affected breeding patterns.

Secondary disasters, such as screes and barrier lakes, also change the habitat, cut off food sources and increase risks for the wild population.

In May, 2008, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake damaged Sichuan’s Wolong Panda Reserve. Most of its pandas and staff were transferred to another facility in Ya’an, 140 kilometers from provincial capital Chengdu.

That facility fell victim when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan County on April 20, 2013. The center reported minimal damage and its 61 pandas were uninjured.

A new panda breeding and research center, sponsored by the Hong Kong government, has been built on less rugged terrain in the Wolong reserve, with the capacity to accommodate 80 captive pandas.

Last year, the provincial government put forward a plan for a 27,134 square kilometer national park that would unite the isolated habitats. It aims to restore migration corridors to link 67 panda reserves on six isolated mountain ranges. It will allow wild pandas to mate with those from other areas to enrich their gene pool.