China battles to bring quake aid

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 21 April 2013 | 19.15

21 April 2013 Last updated at 08:15 ET
Song Zhengqiong, a survivor, cries in front of her damaged house after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya'an, Sichuan province

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Many survivors lost their homes and livelihoods in the quake

Chinese rescue teams are struggling to reach survivors of a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake in remote hill villages in Sichuan province.

State media reported that emergency workers with sniffer dogs had now reached the most remote areas on foot.

But communication networks are still disrupted, so the extent of the damage is still unclear.

The quake killed 203 people and injured some 11,500, state media said.

Among the injured were 960 people who were seriously wounded.

Premier Li Keqiang is overseeing relief efforts, and told reporters that saving lives was the most important thing.

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Ya'an Number 2 Hospital was evacuated as soon as the earthquake struck. Doctors on duty, with memories of the 2008 quake, knew all too well what the powerful jolting and shaking might mean. And now under red and blue canopies to keep off the sun, with the beds wheeled on to the concourse outside, the existing patients have been joined by dozens more.

There are two operating theatres, inside two black canvas tents, and there are old people, children, mothers and fathers; a snapshot of everyday family life at home, indoors, on a Saturday morning at 08:02, the time the quake struck. They are battered, bruised and distressed.

The toll is high, but not as a bad as 2008, when an earthquake, around 50 times as powerful, killed almost 70,000 people. Doctors do expect further spikes in casualties from the harder to reach villages once roads are reopened, but the death toll is not expected to rise significantly.

The BBC's John Sudworth in Ya'an, the closest city to the epicentre, says dozens of injured people are still being treated in a triage centre outside the main hospital.

Some villages close to the epicentre in Lushan and Baoxing counties were left in ruins.

A number of aftershocks followed the quake, which struck at 08:02 local time (00:02 GMT) on Saturday.

In his weekly address, Pope Francis said his thoughts were with the people of China.

"Let us pray for the victims and all those suffering because of the violent quake," he said.

Survivors have been sharing stories of the moment the quake hit.

Yang Shanqing, described how he lost his family in the disaster.

"I tried to call my brother but could not get through. I ran back to the village and was told at the entrance of the village that my brother's house had collapsed," he said.

"I rushed here only to see a crowd of people trying to grab the family out of the ruins, but they failed."

China has received offers of help from countries including Japan, with which it currently embroiled in a territorial dispute over an island grouping in the East China Sea.

Beijing said overseas help was not needed at the moment, but added that it would contact Tokyo if that changed.

Chen Yong, the vice-director of the Ya'an city government earthquake response office, said the death toll may not rise much more.

"We understand the situation in most areas. Most of the casualties have been reported," he said.

"In some remote mountain areas, it is possible that we don't fully understand the situation."

Boulders dynamited

Ambulances, fire engines and military lorries piled high with supplies were waiting in long lines along blocked roads in the province on Sunday.

Correspondents say the hill villages, where farmers grow rice, vegetables and corn on terraced plots, were hit the hardest.

Kevin Xia of the Red Cross said: "Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the way."

In Longmen village in Lushan county nearly all the buildings were destroyed, officials said.

Rescuers had to dynamite boulders that had fallen across some roads, while overnight rain slowed rescue work.

A military vehicle carrying 17 soldiers came off the road, killing one soldier and injuring others.

Tens of thousands of people spent the night in tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back because of the aftershocks.

Sichuan province was devastated by a massive quake five years ago. Tens of thousands of people were killed and five million lost their homes.

Many of the collapsed buildings were schools and nurseries, leading to widespread criticism of local government's planning policies.

But Mr Chen said that this had not happened this time.

"The Chinese government has put a lot of money into building schools and hospitals. I can guarantee that no schools collapsed," he said.


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