Chinanews, Urumqi, Oct 9 – In Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, there is a Muslim residential area called Tuopa. Tuopa is located in Kuluti Village, Wuqia County, and is considered as being in the west end of China. Right now, Xier'ali, a Kirgiz ethnic minority in Tuopa, was having breakfast with his family members in an earthquake-resistant yurt house.In Xinjiang, many Muslim people, including the Uygur, the Kazakh and the Kirgiz minorities, all live in areas prone to earthquakes.On February 24, 2003, an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale racked Bachu and Jiashi counties where lots of Uygur people lived. During the earthquake, more than 30,000 local resident houses collapsed and 268 people were killed. The earthquake had caused 1.37 billion yuan of economic loss.A year after the earthquake, the central government and the regional government of Xinjiang began launch an "earthquake-resistant housing program", whereby in five years, most of the houses built in earthquake-prone areas will be rebuilt or renovated. Over the past three years, 1.06 million earthquake-resistant houses had been built and 5 million people of various ethnic groups had moved in. In future, one million more houses will be built for local people.Xinjiang is an area often hit by earthquakes. Since the beginning of the 20th century, about 105 severe earquakes of magnitude 6 on the Richter scale or above had occurred in Xinjiang, with about one such severe earthquake occurring every year on average. By 2004, there were still 2.01 million rural households in Xinjiang living in houses susceptible to earthquakes, with a population accounting for 80% of the total rural population in Xinjiang.