19,000 believed killed in Chinese quake
CHINA: China's most devastating earthquake in three decades
killed more than 12,000 people with the toll likely to soar after state
media said on Tuesday nearly 19,000 were buried under rubble in one city
alone.
Storms were hampering rescue efforts in the mountainous area around
the epicentre of Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake that pummelled the
southwestern province of Sichuan.
State media reported scenes of devastation as a small contingent of
officials arrived in villages near the epicentre at Wenchuan, a remote
county cut off by landslides about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of
provincial capital Chengdu.
In Yingxiu, a town of 12,000 people, only 2,000 had been found alive,
state television quoted He Biao, an official, as saying.
"They could hear people under the debris calling for help, but no one
could, because there were no professional rescue teams," He said. About
60,000 people were unaccounted for.
"What we most need is medicine. There is no medicine, there are no
doctors and after such a long time, no food," He said. More than 12,000
people have died in Sichuan and more than 26,000 were injured, according
to vice governor Li Chengyun. More than 3.46 million "rooms" had been
damaged.
Another 18,645 people were also buried under debris in the city of
Mianyang, neighbouring Wenchuan, Xinhua news agency said, suggesting the
death toll was likely to rise sharply. Thousands were reported buried
under factories, schools and other buildings elsewhere. Hundreds more
have died in neighbouring provinces.
He said several reservoirs upstream of the Min river, a major Yangtze
river tributary flowing through the quake-hit region, were "in a very
dangerous status and the dams may burst". Officials have also warned
more powerful aftershocks could hit the region and mudslides could wreak
a greater toll.
A strong aftershock rocked Chengdu on Tuesday, one of 2,354 in the
province over the past day, unnerving residents.
More than 50,000 troops had joined disaster relief efforts or were
advancing to the area. Thousands had been ordered to parachute into
Wenchuan, where rain and thick clouds had prevented military helicopters
from landing. Premier Wen Jiabao, visiting Sichuan, ordered troops to
clear roads to Wenchuan.
"Please speed up the shipping of food. The kids have nothing to eat
now," Wen said amid a crowd of crying children. In Dujiangyan about
midway between Chengdu and the epicentre there was devastation, with
buildings reduced to rubble and bodies in the streets.
Many residents simply stood beside their wrecked homes, cradling
possessions in their arms. Others huddled in relief tents under heavy
rain.
Rescuers had worked through the night, pulling bodies from buildings
demolished by the quake, which rolled from Sichuan across much of China
and was felt as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi. About 900 teenagers were
buried under a collapsed three-storey school building, as frantic
relatives tried to push past a line of soldiers, desperate for news of
their children.
Wen bowed three times in grief before some of the first 50 bodies
pulled out, Xinhua reported. "Not one minute can be wasted," said Wen, a
trained geologist. Dujiangyan, Tuesday, Reuters |