Shanxi relocates 4,000 households due to geological disasters

TAIYUAN -- North China's coal-rich Shanxi Province will relocate 4,000 rural households threatened by mining-triggered geological disasters this year, according to the provincial authorities.

The project is part of the province's new rural geological disaster prevention scheme which started in 2014, aiming to complete the relocation of 27,000 households in 656 villages at risk of serious geological disasters within seven years.

The province will finish a comprehensive geological survey to guarantee the safety of people's lives and property, said Zhou Jianchun, head of the Shanxi land and resources department.

The average investment for each new home is 120,000 yuan (about $19,000). Each household will pay 10 percent of the cost and the rest will be funded by governments at the provincial, city, and county levels.

About one-third of the province's land area has coal mines. Last year, Shanxi produced about 875 million tonnes of coal, with an overcapacity cut of 22.6 million tonnes.