Over 50,000 dead, missing or buried in China quake
by Francois Bougon
2 hours, 39 minutes ago
DUJIANGYAN, China (AFP) - More than 50,000 people are dead, missing or
buried under rubble after China's devastating earthquake, officials
said Wednesday as the full horror of the disaster began to emerge.
Rescue teams who punched into the quake's stricken epicentre re****ted
whole towns all but wiped off the map, spurring frantic efforts to
bring emergency relief to the survivors.
Planes and military helicopters air-dropped supplies, 100 troops
parachuted into a county that had been cut off, and rescuers in cities
and towns across Sichuan province fought to pull the living and the
dead from the debris.
But the overwhelming message that came back from this southwestern
province was that only now is a picture slowly beginning to form of
the epic scale of Monday's 7.9-magnitude quake.
State media quoted Sichuan vice governor Li Chengyun saying that based
on "incomplete" figures, 14,463 people were confirmed dead in the
province as of mid-afternoon Wednesday.
Nearly 26,000 were buried in rubble and nearly 15,000 missing, he
added.
But far beyond the numbers is the human tragedy behind China's worst
quake in a generation as rescue teams claw through twisted metal and
concrete.
They were looking for people like He Xinghao, 15, whose lifeless body
was eventually pulled from the debris of a school close to the
epicentre.
Like many other Chinese of his age, strict population policies had
made him an only child, and he was showered with affection by his
family.
"He was such a good and well-behaved boy. He always did his homework,"
said his aunt, Ge Mi, as fresh tears flowed from her reddened eyes.
It was a scene repeated across Sichuan -- a province often better
known to foreigners for its endangered giant pandas.
The destruction around the epicentre in remote Wenchuan county is
massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart
and building after building levelled.
Cries for help were heard from a flattened school in Yingxiu, where
people tried to dig out survivors with their bare hands, state media
said.
"The losses have been severe," Wang Yi, who heads an armed police unit
sent into the epicentre zone, was quoted as saying by Sichuan Online
news site.
"Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed to
the ground."
At least 7,700 people died in Yingxiu alone, Xinhua quoted a local
official as saying, with only 2,300 surviving.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said 100,000 military personnel and police
had been mobilised.
"Time is life," he urged rescuers.
The air drop started with planes and helicopters flying dozens of
sorties, dropping tonnes of food and relief aid into the worst-hit
zone, most of it cut off from the outside world by landslides and road
closures.
As well as Yingxiu, CCTV television said air drops were also made in
nearby Mianyang, Mianzhu and Pengzhou, while helicopters flew to
Wenchuan with food, drinks , tents, communications equipment and other
supplies.
The rescue effort has been badly disrupted since Monday by heavy
rain , and the Meteorological Authority forecast more later in the
week, raising the risk of fresh landslides.
Many thousands of people are homeless, living and sleeping under
make****ft plastic shacks propped up by wood and bamboo, and amid the
grieving there was also some frustration at the overwhelmed relief
effort.
World powers including the United States, European Union and United
Nations have offered money and expertise, and Pope Benedict XVI called
for prayers to be said.
However China rebuffed offers to deploy foreign search and rescue
experts, saying conditions were "not yet ripe."
A Japanese foreign ministry official in charge of emergency aid said
Tokyo offered rescue teams with sniffer dogs, but China had made no
request.
Australian and South Korean expertise was also politely declined,
although China did accept one million dollars in aid from Seoul.
"We were told that China cannot receive rescuers now due to poor
condition of trans****tation systems," a Japanese foreign ministry
official said.
Wednesday's leg of the Olympic torch relay in eastern Jianxi province
began with a minute's silence before the runners set off.
Organisers of the Beijing Olympics are scaling down the relay as the
torch makes it way to the capital for the Games in August, in a
further blow to its troubled round-the-world journey after earlier
protests over Tibet.
|
