May 16, 2008 -- A strong aftershock near the epicentre of Monday's powerful earthquake in China has been reported, sparking landslides, burying vehicles and again cutting off ravaged areas from the rescue effort.
The official
Xinhua news agency said an aftershock measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale rattled parts of the Sichuan province earlier today.
A number of vehicles were buried but it is not yet known whether there are any further casualties. Rescue work has now resumed, according to
Xinhua.
The report of the aftershock came after the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, visited the devastated area where it is feared up to 50,000 people have died and said the effort to find survivors was now in its "most crucial phase".
He warned that time was running out to find survivors as the government made an emergency appeal for cranes and heavy lifting equipment.
"The challenge is still severe, the task is still arduous and the time is pressing," said Hu, as reported by
Xinhua, the state news agency.
"We must make every effort, race against time and overcome all difficulties to achieve the final victory of the relief efforts."
Hu was speaking after arriving in Mianyang, one of the cities hit hardest by the earthquake in the south-west province. He met rescue workers and visited a collapsed school where a student had just been pulled out after being trapped for more than 80 hours.
Amid rising anger over the deaths of so many children in their classrooms, the government said it would investigate why so many school buildings collapsed. It vowed to punish anyone found responsible for shoddy construction.
Four days after the earthquake, Chinese soldiers and police finally reached all of the isolated mountain towns and villages that were most damaged, state media reported.
The first foreign rescuers had also now arrived. A team of Japanese experts arrived this morning, and a second team with sniffer dogs was due later today. Russia, South Korea and Singapore were also sending teams.
Troops, emergency personnel and volunteers have been finding people alive under collapsed buildings. Dramatic footage broadcast by the state-run
China Central Television showed a young woman waving weakly from under slabs of concrete at a devastated hospital in Dujiangyan.
She was eventually freed — one of at least three people found alive three days after the 7.9-magnitude quake that churned up large swaths of Sichuan province.
But far more bodies than survivors are being uncovered. The official death toll rose by almost a third yesterday to 19,509. About 30,000 others are believed to be buried under mountain landslides and collapsed structures.
The People's Liberation Army has dispatched tens of thousands of troops but the lack of heavy equipment has hampered relief efforts.
The
Phoenix news website ran a story claiming the premier, Wen Jiabao, shouted at army generals in a telephone conversation.
Frustrated at reports that a broken bridge was preventing aid supplies from reaching 100,000 people in Hangzhou, the premier reportedly said: "I don't care how you do it. I just want those 100,000 people out of danger. That is an order."
But even the world's biggest army is ill-equipped to deal with the destruction of an estimated 4m homes across hundreds of miles of often mountainous terrain.
In a rare public appeal, the government called for donations of rescue equipment, including rubber boats, demolition tools, shovels and mobile phones.
The ministry of information industry's website said 100 cranes were needed. They ought to be available as China is in the midst of a construction boom that has made it home to more of the world's cranes than any other country.
The state media has emphasised the public-spiritedness of blood donors and donations of food, clothes and water. Health officials say they need more medical supplies for what is expected to be a long campaign to treat injuries and ward off disease.
"This is only a beginning of this battle, and a long way lies ahead of us," the deputy health minister, Gao Qiang, told reporters in Beijing. "We will never give up hope. For every thread of hope, our efforts will increase a hundredfold."
The roads of north-west Sichuan are filled with convoys of army trucks and volunteer vehicles, many adorned with red banners proclaiming the names of the donor company or work unit.
But several communities have reported shortages of water. Bodies are still being piled up on streets for removal by trucks or burial in pits.
Fears of a knock-on disaster persist. Officials said they have dealt with the cracks that have appeared at the giant Zipingpu dam near Dujiangyan, but warn of the possible collapse of other hydropower plants near the epicentre in Wenchuan county.
Favorites
Digg
Del.icio.us
Furl
Magnolia
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo MyWeb
Linear Mode
