SNOW has hindered relief work in earth-quake-stricken Zhaosu County in China's far western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

　　The quake, measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale, occurred at 9:38am last Monday, leaving 10 people dead, 47 injured and more than 6,000 affected.

　　The earthquake was felt most strongly in Zhaosu County and adjacent areas. A survey found that more than 700 houses collapsed and 487 were severely damaged. Direct economic losses are estimated at more than 35.85 million yuan (US.32 million).

　　All the dead were workers from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and their family members. Four were children with the eldest aged four.

　　Earthquake survivors are now battling bitterly cold weather conditions. The temperature dropped to minus 25 degrees centigrade early last Tuesday morning while survivors were waiting for the arrival of relief materials.

　　Local officials said 1,000 tents sent by the civil affairs departments in Urumqi, the regional capital, would take two or more days to reach the quake-hit mountainous region as the roads were covered by deep snow.

　　Some 500 homeless victims of the quake were being housed in relief tents and others were sheltering from the freezing cold winds in buses. Rescue workers have mobilized 700 residents to dig caves to provide shelter for quake victims and cattle. However, the work is slow because of the sub-zero temperatures.

　　Emergency food and clean water supplies were expected to "basically satisfy" people's needs but Zhaosu County quake victims remained worried about how they were to survive the six-month-long winter season in countryswheresthe temperature could plummet to minus 40 degrees centigrade. They said reconstruction of their damaged houses could only begin next spring.

　　More than 30 after-shocks have been recorded since the major earthquake rocked the county last Monday but there were no new reports of casualties, local officials said.

　　Soldiers and police officers were dismantling damaged houses to avoid the danger of their collapsing and hurting returning residents.

　　Zhaosu county is located in the border area between China and Kazakhstan,swheresseismic activity is common. Monday's earthquake was the strongest in recent years.

　　Since 1996, more than 20 earthquakes measuring five or above on the Richter scale have hit Xinjiang. At least 315 people have been killed and more than 4,200 injured. Total damage from earthquakes since 1996 stands at 2.7 billion yuan (US million) in economic losses.