Premier Wen Jiabao has visited the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which has been hit by the worst snowfall in six decades. Wen Jiabao promised to take effective measures to help people through the difficult period.

On Saturday afternoon, after a five hour flight, Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in northern Xinjiang and visited a Kazak village in the suburbs.

The temperature had fallen to 26 degrees below zero and snow was piled up more than a meter high along the village path.

A villager told the Premier that his fodder reserve would only last till March and the cattle could not move to the summer range until May.

Wen Jiabao instructed local officials to speed up the transport of fodder from farming regions that are less badly affected.

The government will offer subsidies and provide cheap loans for shepherds, and continue to provide assistance into the spring.

Wen Jiabao's next stop was a shepherd settlement in Tacheng, another badly hit area.

The settlement is home to about 1,000 formerly nomadic shepherd families who have settled down in the neighborhood with a school, clinic and veterinary service.

Visiting a family there, Wen Jiabao learnt that their cattle are being kept indoors to survive the cold.

Through such settlement projects, shepherds are more capable of coping with natural disasters and have better access to education and other services.

Premier Wen also visited people evacuated from the blizzard-hit areas and farmers whose farms have been damaged.

Wen suggested shepherds change their nomadic lifestyle to a live in a fixed place to improve their livelihoods. The local government should fully exploit the rich resources of wind and solar power.

With China's Lunar New Year, the Spring Festival, drawing near, Wen Jiabao called on the local government to implement relief measures and make sure that residents enjoy a happy festival.

By Monday, the cold snap had left at least 13 people dead and more than 1,100 ill or injured in the region.

(CCTV.com January 26, 2010)