A total of 50,000 cotton-padded tents will be sent to homeless quake survivors in Yushu, northwestern Qinghai Province, by the end of this month, local authorities said Saturday.

The first batch of 5,000 cotton tents are arriving for the homeless survivors in the hardest-hit Jiegu Township, said Ma Danzhu, head of the disaster relief department with the Qinghai provincial civil affairs bureau.

The new homes can not be finished within the year due to the early coming of winter in the plateau region, said Ma.

The official said the bureau ordered the cotton tents with 20 square meters each in May to help homeless quake survivors through the long winter season.

The 7.1-magnitude quake struck Yushu on April 14, killing more than 2,200 people and flattening thousands of homes.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2010)