China's top legislator, Wu Bangguo, on Tuesday visited the epicenter town and a major dam in quake-hit southwestern Sichuan Province.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, flew to Yingxiu Town in epicenter Wenchuan County by helicopter on Tuesday morning and met with soldiers and medical workers working at the site.

"You have risked danger and difficulties when working at the front line and saved lots of lives," he told them. "I hope that you can carry the spirit on in the future relief work."

Saddened by the almost flattened town, Wu inquired about the daily lives of the survivors. "Your town suffered a lot in the earthquake but this hard moment will pass soon," he said, shaking hands with several local residents, asking them to take care of their kids and to be careful about sanitation.

Wu also visited Ren Yong, a local official who had been ill after days of hard work. He appreciated his work and told him to take a good rest and recover soon.

Later, Wu went to the Zipingpu dam, over the Yangtze River's main tributary of the Minjiang River near Dujiangyan City, one of the areas seriously hit by the quake.

The dam is about 17 kilometers from Wenchuan and might threaten millions of lives at the downstream Chengdu Plain once it collapses.

The head of the dam administration told Wu that it is safe and stable despite suffering partial damage.

He asked them to be the most careful about the security of the dam as the flood season was coming.

On Tuesday afternoon, he also dropped in a temporary shelter camp in Dujiangyan City which was home to more than 1,000 people.

Wu, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, left Beijing on Monday to direct disaster relief work in the quake-ravaged province.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2008)