Authorities in southwest China have announced their intention to rebuild the county seat of Beichuan -- leveled in the May 12 earthquake -- on an entirely new site.

The exact location was yet to be decided, but it was likely to be on the flat land of what is currently neighboring Anxian County, 20 kilometers away, said an official with the Sichuan Provincial government.

"Safety is the top priority in selecting a new location and reconstruction," said Beichuan Party chief Song Ming. "We have planned to build a monument and a memorial to commemorate the quake victims on the previous location."

Beichuan, one of the worst-hit areas in the 8.0-magnitude quake, has its present county seat in Qushan Township, which is surrounded by hills soaring to altitudes of 500 meters to 1,000 meters. More than 8,600 of the 13,000 people living in the county seat were killed in the quake.

About 70 percent of the buildings in the county seat, 90 kilometers from the epicenter, Wenchuan, were destroyed and "not a single building in the once-prosperous township is safe", said Song.

"It is impossible to rebuild the county seat at the original location or nearby," he said.

The provincial government had finished a draft plan of Beichuan county's reconstruction, including site selection of the new county seat, the reconstruction of the other townships and survivor resettlement, said a provincial government official, who declined to give his name.

"The plan also gives the scale of reconstruction and the budget," said the official, who refused to give details. "Safety is absolutely the top concern of the government."

Beichuan Autonomous County of Qiang Nationality, in northern Sichuan Province, has a population of 160,000 and is under the jurisdiction of Mianyang City.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2008)