Asian countries where earthquakes and other natural disasters occur frequently should set up a temporary housing repertory for potential threats, said an expert with Japan's Waseda University on Sunday.

"More than 10 million quake victims in China's quake zone are now in urgent need of being evacuated to safe places. It warns all disaster-frequenting Asian countries to prepare a temporary house repertory for helping each other when calamity comes," said Masanori Hamada, a civil engineering professor in Waseda, one of Japan's most prestigious universities, at a seminar on China's post-quake reconstruction.

After the May 12 earthquake that devastated the southwest Sichuan Province and the surrounding areas, Hamada led a 10-plus-member team to the quake zone for observation. There, he held a discussion on post-quake reconstruction with Chinese experts from southwest Jiaotong University.

Natural disasters are frequent in Asia. With a regional mechanism for temporary house stock, other countries can respond quickly for relief work when one is hit by disaster, according to the academic.

"In that case, we won't face a situation like this where Chinese victims in the quake zone are in urgent need of tents and temporary buildings to settle in."

He added all the tents and temporary houses should be recycled after the quake for future use.

He also suggested Asian countries spend more on building quake-resistant houses.

The death toll in the earthquake that jolted Sichuan Province and some other areas had risen to 69,016 as of Sunday noon.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2008)