President Hu deals with devastating quake in northwestern China

BRASILIA, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao explained to several foreign leaders why he had to cut short his visit after a deadly earthquake in northwestern China's Qinghai province.

"At this difficult time, I need to return to my country urgently, to be together with the people of China, pitching in with the earthquake rescue efforts," Hu said to the leaders.

A 7.1-magnitude quake struck the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu on Wednesday, killing at least 1,144 people and leaving 294 missing and 11,486 injured. About 100,000 people have been relocated.

When the tragedy was reported to Hu, he had just attended the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Hu held an urgent meeting to analyze the sudden quake.

Hu urged all-out efforts to save lives and provide assistance to people in the disaster zone. He also asked authorities to step up precautions to ward off potential risks of aftershocks and called for efforts to safeguard social stability in the quake-hit region.

Hu ordered the urgent mobilization of planes to transfer quake relief workers to the disaster areas, and dispatched soldiers there for aid.

He proposed the reduction of the Brasilia-held summit of BRIC, which groups Brazil, Russia, India and China, shortened his visit to Brazil, and postponed a trip to Venezuela and Chile.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia and India all expressed understanding of and support for China's proposal and agreed to compress the original two-day summit into a one-day event.

Hu cut back his stay in Brazil to April 14-15 from the scheduled period of April 14-17.

Brazil, Russia and India all sent condolences to the quake-hit zones in Qinghai province.