China quake hurts farmers' hopes to escape poverty

LONGMENSHAN, China-The ribbon of collapsed homes winding up the Jian river valley in southwest China doesn't feature on the picturesque billboards that once welcomed tourists and now help protect its homeless residents from the rain. Lush fields and wooded hills made the area a favorite getaway for affluent urbanites in recent years, and catering to their needs offered many farmers a welcome escape from backbreaking agricultural work or ill-paid casual labor.But the valley was hard hit by China's deadliest quake in decades, which struck southwestern Sichuan province last week and has killed at least 30,000, and locals fear the tremors that took their homes have also destroyed their future."So many years of hard work and now I'm left with nothing," said Zhang Guangliang, tearing up as he looked at the ruined beds, chairs and televisions stacked in the courtyard of his 'country wife's rural retreat'.A fully- booked sign still dangled forlornly from the balcony of a collapsed second-storey room."We don't have the money or the spirit to start again, but we don't want to go back to driving trucks either," added his dejected wife Chen Jialing.The 7.9 magnitude tremor rippled through southwest China a week ago. The government said it probably killed over 50,000 people and about 4.8 million have lost their homes.The Jian river valley was cut off after the quake destroyed a key bridge and in some areas over half the buildings crumbled, although single-storey country homes kept the death tolls lower than in areas were people had to race down stairs to escape.
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