The new site of Beichuan city
The local government and experts have finalized the selection of new site for Beichuan city, which was totally destroyed in the devastating earthquake at May 12, 2008. Please see this post for a recent witness of the city 4 weeks after earthquake and totally evacuated and closed for sanitary and security reason. The new site is located in a nearby county, An Xian. The place is called Bandengqiao. The small town was almost intact after the earthquake and is expected to provide a safe start for the rebuild of Beichuan. It is also expected that the local administrations will have a major shift since the boundaries of neighboring counties will be redrawn.
There was a debate among the locals and many caring people whether to build at the original site or to find a new location. The debate is indeed still going on. It will be a daunting challenge to the local government of how to persuade those who refuse to relocate, how to balance the often conflict interests from different groups, and how to take care of the ruin of the old city.
