Death toll in China quake reportedly nears 12,000

By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer 6 minutes ago

DUJIANGYAN, China - Bodies covered with sheets lined streets as rescue workers dug through schools and homes turned into rubble by China's worst earthquake in three decades in a desperate attempt to rescue victims trapped beneath concrete slabs. The official death toll rose Tuesday to nearly 12,000, and thousands remained missing.

But hope that many survivors would be found was fleeting. Buildings were knocked down on every block in some cities, and corpses were laid out in the street and in schoolyards.

Only 58 people were extricated from demolished buildings across the quake area so far, China Seismological Bureau spokesman Zhang Hongwei told the official Xinhua.

"Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up," said Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, adding that rescue efforts could take a week.

A day after the powerful 7.9 magnitude quake struck, state media said rescue workers had only just reached the epicenter in Wenchuan county — cut off by the disaster and where the number of casualties was unknown. China said it would welcome international aid but would not yet allow foreign relief workers into the affected area.

Heavy rain, which had contributed to the difficulty of reaching the epicenter, continued to impede efforts and a group of paratroopers called off a mission to the area, Xinhua said.

The death toll rose to 11,921, Wang said. At least 4,800 people remained buried in Mianzhu, 60 miles from the epicenter, Xinhua said, citing local authorities.

The casualty figures were expected to rise and remained uncertain due to the remote areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.

The earthquake caused a wide swath of damage across central China, leveling buildings and severing roads and communications. It sent people rushing out of their offices across the country in Beijing, and was felt as far away as Vietnam.

Nearly 10,000 people died in Sichuan province alone and 300 others in other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing, Xinhua reported.

A 40-car freight train with 13 gasoline tankers derailed in the quake and was still burning Tuesday, the agency said, with no word on casualties.

Earthquake rescue experts in orange jumpsuits extricated bloody survivors on stretchers from demolished buildings, and some 34,000 troops swarmed into the region to help.

Aftershocks rattled the region for a second day, sending people running into the streets in the city of Chengdu. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the shocks between magnitude 4 and 6, some of the strongest since Monday's quake.

In Dujiangyan, rescue teams were trying to get to a woman who was eight months pregnant and trapped in a seven-story apartment building that collapsed.

Zhou Chun, a 70-year-old retired mechanic, was leaving Dujiangyan with a soiled light blue blanket draped over his shoulders.

"My wife died in the quake. My house was destroyed," he said. "I am going to Chengdu, but I don't know where I'll live."

Nearby, a man in his late 50s who refused to give his name, said his father was missing in the rubble of his home. "Yesterday, when the earthquake happened our home collapsed really quickly and I heard my father yell, 'Help, help, help,'" the man said.

People were seeking rides out of town, where makeshift tent cities were being erected as shelter from rain that began Tuesday and could affect rescue efforts.

Just east of the epicenter, 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school in Beichuan county. The six- or seven-story building was reduced to a pile of rubble about two yards high, according to Xinhua. Another 900 students were feared dead when their school collapsed in Juyuan, which is in Dujiangyan city.

The Beichuan school had more than 2,000 students and teachers in three school buildings. The other two buildings collapsed partially, Xinhua said.

Up to 5,000 people were killed and 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan, Xinhua said, in a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. The government has poured more than 16,000 troops into the area with tens of thousands more on the way.

Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to the area to oversee rescue efforts, said a push was on to clear roads and restore electricity as soon as possible.

China's Ministry of Health issued an appeal for blood donations to help the victims of the quake. "There is a large demand for blood in quake-hit areas and we hope the public actively donate blood," spokesman Mao Quan said.

Before the rescue workers arrived, the only previous contact with hard-hit Wenchuan, Xinhua said, was a satellite phone call from the local Communist Party secretary to appeal for air drops of tents, food and medicine.

The official, Wang Bin, said there were 57 reported deaths so far, with more than 300 other people seriously injured. He said the figures were likely to rise as there was no information from mountainous areas.

He estimated that at least 30,000 of the county's 105,000 residents slept outside Monday night.

Fifteen missing British tourists were believed to be in that area at the time of the quake and were "out of reach," Xinhua reported.

They were likely visiting the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to more than 100 giant pandas, whose fate also was not known, Xinhua said. It reported that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe.

Disasters pose a test to China's communist government, whose mandate rests heavily on maintaining order, delivering economic growth and providing relief in emergencies.

Pressure for a rapid response was particularly intense this year, as the government was already grappling with public discontent over high inflation and a widespread uprising among Tibetans in western China while trying to prepare for the Beijing Olympics this August.

Expressions of sympathy and offers of help poured in from the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others. Even rival Taiwan, which is frequently hit by quakes and has highly developed expertise in rescue operations, offered aid.

The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said relief authorities "are ready to make contact with relevant countries and organizations."

But Wang, the disaster relief official, said international aid workers would not be allowed to travel to the affected area.

"We welcome funds and supplies, we can't accommodate personnel at this point," he said.

Russia was sending a plane with rescuers and aid, the country's Interfax news agency reported. Department spokesman Sean McCormack said no aid requests had been made by China. China's Ministry of Finance said it had allocated about $123 million, in aid for quake-hit areas.

The quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing in 1976.

___

Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen in Juyuan, China, contributed to this report.



CHINA EARTHQUAKE

Kaluoy sang mga family nga naapektuhan migo Au...damu damu gid yatap...I hope people will go back to God...and as far as I know..the new generations in china dont believe in God either.......

Let us pray for them and for the family that lose their love ones....

Okay lang man kami di mga migo ah!! I haven't heard tupvians or pinoy's affected. Most of semicons here in northeast of china.....

the earthquake hits most in the southeast....let's all pray na wala na sang masunod pa nga calamity!!

baw.. lapit sa thailand.... kag ang thailand, lapit sa malaysia nga lapit sa singapore.... waaahhh!!!!!



tayug-tayog bah :P

daw nabatyagan man sa iban na country ang linog sa china....

ayos ah. tayog gid. :D

nag linog man gani di sa Pilipinas but wala man may naapektohan ah... thanks god...

pirti kadamu nga pumuluyu ang naapektuhan.....tsk tsk!!!

i had read somewhere sa internet.


while they are trying to acquire the latest number of fatalities and casualties sang linug nga natabo, technical team also is searching for the answer kung ngaa damu sa buildings nila ang narumpag.....


isa sa rasun nga nakita nila ang materyales nga gin-usar..... MADE IN CHINA kuno bi mo...

:P :bounce :bounce :bounce

Ari statistics as of sunday:

Confirmed dead: 32,477 : wounded: 220,109 *no *no *no *no *no

Hope and pray lang kita nga wla pilipino upod na mga utod ta nga tupvians ang nadalahig didto...

pigaw abi ka pundasyun sang ila nga mga buildinggs diri mig especially sa didto na lugar kay mga daan na ang mga buildings...but they said 80's they have a building codes naman kuno so it's possible the affected areas are late 80's pa nga mga buildings....

even may bldg codes kung ang earthquake is at 7.9 sa scale kaf lasts 2 mins.... damu gid madalahig.... ussually 5-15 sec lang ina... as far as i can recall ang 1990 nga linug sa baguio was only 6.5 R-scale at 15sec..... far less than the news nga 2 min ang sa china (tuod nga 2 mins?)

no exact time mig...but i ask some chinese here...in some areas takes 10 mins...imagine that!!!

hehehehe........ daw apocalypse!..


*area51

I have a big problem gani migs...how can i spread the words to chinese people...

We Couple's For Christ here in Suzhou China had a mission to spread the words and acknowledge Christ as their personal saviour and to make Christ in the center of our daily lives.....not only to our kababayan here but also to Chinese citizens...

But help me God ah....medyu gadamu na diri ang mga missionaries ta!!

well.... you have to respect their current practice and religion/s.. else daw budlay gid ina nga ipilit mo ang imu kay may ara sila.. pero kuhaun lang ang common denominator eh... be be honest kag most of all... BE CAREFUL :naughty: :thumb:

So far meg...damu na ta members nga mga chinese nga padayun man sa pagbulig sang atun hilikuton diri sa china every weekends. We are planning to sponsor one Catholic Chinese Bishop here to attend the CFC Anniversary next year in Manila.And in that way, he can help us to enlighten Chinese people what is our purpose.

We are not sure when He will come....we need to build/make a wealth na madala ta sa piyak nga kabuhi....

We should change our priorities in life....God give us 365 days...all He's asking a couple of hours for Him.

I hope marecognize na sang mga chinese si God ah!!

well.... keep it up and goodluck migo ah... :thumb: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

Bag-o lang gid migs...we stood up and have a 3 mins. silence!! I think it's a way of giving sympathy to the affected chinese people cause by earthquake.

tuod kuno nga ang mga multo or mamaw nga mga intsik naga tumbo tumbo? (or sa japan?) ;)

hahaha!! damu man ko makit-an nga mga chinese movies nga palagwaun diri mig nga ang mga zombies nila gatumbo-tumbo....bal-an mo mahilig sila mag kung fu mong!!!

hehehehehe :lol:

Handa ka dayon papil mig tapik mo sa iya agtang para mag utat sagi tumbo..hehehehe :bounce :bounce :bounce

Migo chram,
Abi ko anay mga chinese mahilig sa paka...hehehe
:veryfunny: :veryfunny: :veryfunny:

what do u mean migs? damu di paka sa market...kag ba-u...palakaun sila sina...kita mo ang paka sa talamnan nga pirti ka daku daku nga daw may armor ang likod..amu na di ang ginahiwa nila nga klase sang paka....

nagtayug na ta haw..hehehe!!!

Let's pray na lang sa mga naapektuhan nga mapadali ang resources nga kinahanglan nila ah!!

Amo na reason mig kung ngaa gatumbo tumbo ang ila da mumu..hehehehe :bounce :bounce :bounce

Kopya mig ah,let's make no joke sa natabu sa mga tawo china...pasalamat gid kita nga wla kita mdalahig sa natabo didto...

we are not physically affected migs but emotionally apektado man kita kag imo makit-an sa world news...gira didto...away didto..natural disaster diri....

anybody likes to reads the revelations? Ako lipat na ko but I think there's a part nga sa 2nd coming of Christ matabu ang ini nga mga gakalatabu sa atun kalibutan subong. So let's us pray nga matandug ang atun nga kabuhi nga magbalik sa Iya para tanan kita magkilit-anay liwat sa piyak nga kabuhi!

Amen!!

AFAIK migo most chinese are aethist, indi bala? so they don't believe in GOD. Halong lang migo, bal-an naman naton ang chinese government kag ang CPC, they are a paranoid bunch of people...

Halong gid sa pagpalapnag sang Word sang GOD...

yup mig...they don't believe in God because nobody guides them...i hope we can continue to spread His words and guide us...

One of my friend in Carmelites told me in China there are underground church to spread the words.....kay ginadakup kuno sang government...but luckily here in Suzhou the St. Joseph Church here is a very old legal catholic church and the preacher is a Bishop. And Couple's for Christ is spreading....as of now we have Shanghai,Guangzhou,Beijing,Suzhou,Hangzhou,Hongkong...even in Mongolia....not only Filipino members involved...there are chinese,malaysian,singaporean,american...etc.