Death Toll In China Earthquake Rises To More Than 40,000

[LaoPo]

Trembling with fear

Bangkok workers scramble to safety after tremors from Chinese quake

About 15 minutes later, the building's alarm rang and everyone rushed to the ground floor through the fire escape. 15 Minutes? Why am I not surprised?

They waited in front of the building for an hour before the building management said it was safe to return to work. The same management that took 15 minutes to warn them? Talk about a leap of faith. Standing in front of skyscraper which has the potential to rain down debris is not a great idea. Standard rule is to get away from potential sources of falling debris.

"In parts of Thailand aftershocks were felt six minutes after the quake"

2008 Sichuan Earthquake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake

LaoPo

[astral]

About 1.40pm today 12 May, a few of us in our office (26th floor) felt a swaying sensation.

Anyone else have a similar sensation?

A bit early in the day for drinking?

The effects of earthquakes are magnified in Bangkok due to the large mud basin where the city is built.

[astral]

"We felt continuous shaking for about two or three minutes. All the people in our office are rushing downstairs. We're still feeling slight tremblings," said an office worker in Chengdu.

I remember being caught in an earthquake in Jakarta in 1997.

It was only 5.8 on the Richter scale, but the building where I was

working on the 20th floor, shook very noticeably.

My first instinct was to run, but I decided there was no point. If the building was

going to fall I would never reach the ground floor before that happened.

A far as I remember there was no damage to the modern skyscraper buildings,

only older structures.

A scary event all the same.

My sympathy to all those caught in the latest quake.

[george]

Update:

Tens of thousands dead or missing in China quake

DUJIANGYAN, CHINA: — China was reeling Tuesday from its worst earthquake in three decades which left tens of thousands of people dead, missing or trapped under crushed houses, schools and factories.

Rescuers were struggling to reach towns and villages devastated by Monday's huge 7.8 magnitude quake in southwestern Sichuan province, which is still being pummeled by wave after wave of terrifying aftershocks.

The death toll was officially nearly 10,000, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency, but that figure was expected to rise dramatically with at least 10,000 people alone buried in Mianzhu city in Sichuan.

Up to 5,000 people have been killed in one district, Beichuan, where 80 percent of buildings collapsed, according to Xinhua.

"Several thousand" were reported killed or buried in the nearby town of Hanwang after a factory collapsed, while over 600 people died and 2,300 were buried in Shifang city where there was a major chemical leak.

More than 18 hours after the quake struck, there was still little news out of Wenchuan county, a poor mountainous region of around 112,000 people situated in the epicenter.

Hundreds were feared buried at Juyan Middle School in Dujiangyan city, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the epicenter, and rescuers have pulled about 60 bodies from the rubble so far.

Dujiangyan resident Wen Xiaoping was standing over his mother's body, covered on the ground with a sheet of plastic, after he and his neighbours dug through collapsed rubble to find her.

"I lost everything. I lost my house and I lost my mother," said Wen.

"My brother is in hospital with severe injuries to his chest. I'm waiting for someone to come and pick up the body. But no-one has come yet," he said.

Police were seen pulling out other bodies, many badly battered, from the rubble of one collapsed building, placing them in a row out the front.

Pictures posted on Chinese Internet news sites showed rescuers standing atop huge slabs of shattered concrete at the Juyan Middle School as cranes tried to lift away massive chunks of rubble.

Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins, while others were pinned under rubble and crying out for help. Grieving parents watched as cranes were excavating at the site.

Foreigners were among the dead or missing, with 37 tourists killed when their coach was buried in a landslide in Aba prefecture in Sichuan. Officials said they had also lost contact with 15 British tourists, state media reported.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao warned the situation in the quake zone was severe as China mobilised its 2.3 million-strong armed forces to spearhead the search and rescue effort.

"The situation is worse than we previously estimated and we need more people here to help," Premier Wen said, speaking at the disaster relief headquarters in Dujiangyan.

President Hu Jintao urged an "all-out" effort to rescue victims and the authorities announced an initial allocation of 200 million yuan (29 million dollars) of relief funds.

World powers including the United States, the European Union, Russia and Japan rallied around China with sympathy and pledges of help.

The huge quake struck at 2.28 pm on Monday and rocked skyscrapers up to 1,800 kilometres (1,200 miles) away in cities across China and parts of Southeast Asia, where panicked residents fled into the streets.

The quake hit in the middle of the day when schools, factories and offices were full. While many buildings in larger cities withstood the impact, buildings in rural areas would not have been built to withstand such a large quake.

The area had been rocked by more than 1,180 aftershocks of up to magnitude six as of 5:00 am on Tuesday, the Sichuan provincial seismological bureau said.

Relief forces were battling to reach the worst-hit areas of Wenchuan county approaching on foot, Xinhua said, as vehicles were not able to use the road littered with rocks and boulders.

All lines of communication were cut with the county, which is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas.

But an official in Wenchuan managed to appeal for emergency aid via a satellite phone, Xinhua reported.

"We are in urgent need of tents, food, medicine and satellite communications equipment through air drop," Xinhua quoted Wang Bin, Communist Party secretary of the county, as saying.

"We also need medical workers to save the injured people here."

The health ministry dispatched emergency medical teams to Wenchuan and the Chinese Red Cross sent tents and quilts.

The quake's epicentre was about 93 kilometres from Chengdu, a city of more than 12 million people, and 260 kilometres from Chongqing and its 30 million population.

The death toll is the highest for a quake in China since 242,000 people perished when the northern city of Tangshan was flattened in 1976.

--AFP 2008-05-13

[toptuan]

My first instinct was to run, but I decided there was no point. If the building was

going to fall I would never reach the ground floor before that happened.

Good thinking. Take it from an elderly Japanese lady who gave advice after a lifetime of experiencing earthquakes (large and small) in Japan...

"When earthquake come, I always go upstairs. Better to be upstairs when upstairs become downstairs."

[think_too_mut]

My first instinct was to run, but I decided there was no point. If the building was

going to fall I would never reach the ground floor before that happened.

Good thinking. Take it from an elderly Japanese lady who gave advice after a lifetime of experiencing earthquakes (large and small) in Japan...

"When earthquake come, I always go upstairs. Better to be upstairs when upstairs become downstairs."

I have been through several significant earthquakes in Tokyo over last 5 years, at floors 55 (the highest floor allowed to build in Japan) and 29.

One time the building swayed 2m and I could see other buildings swaying like trees. Nobody ever ran, everything was calm and, during the longest one that lasted 5 minutes and 20 seconds, after the first minute people already were in seizmic center web site and started talking about where and how powerful the earhquake was.

One time, at level 3 at home, glass with beer topled from my table, power lines were swaying like jumping rope.

It's standard of building in Japan that protect lives and properties.

[LaoPo]

Death toll rises to almost 12,000 in China Earthquake

death toll rises to 11,921

(chinadaily.com.cn/agencies)

Updated: 2008-05-13 00:16

Some 1,300 rescue and relief troops arrived for the first time at Wenchuan County, the epicenter of Monday's major quake, as death toll climbed to 11,921 by 2:00 pm Tuesday.

Excerpt:

"The death toll rose to 11,921, said Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs. At least 4,800 people remained buried in Mianzhu, 60 miles (100 kilometers) 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 killer quake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants, trapping unknown numbers in mounds of concrete, steel, wooden frames, bricks and earth in China's worst earthquake in three decades."

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05...ent_6678227.htm

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

"...death toll exceeds 12,000"

From: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05...ent_6678227.htm

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

China Quake: Brits Reported Missing

Updated:10:46, Tuesday May 13, 2008

A number of British nationals have been reported missing following a massive earthquake in central China.

The Foreign Office has confirmed they are trying to contact people who were "possibly" in the region affected by the earthquake.

"Some of the people may be in groups or some may be individuals," a spokesman said.

"The embassy is trying to make contact with them but communications are difficult at the moment.

"Our embassy is in close contact with the Chinese authorities."

He added that he could not confirm state media reports in China that said a group of 15 British tourists "were out of reach" at Wenchuan, the epicentre of the quake.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1315835,00.html

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

The ongoing news reports are very confusing and shocking, if true....

30,000 Buried In China Quake Debris

Nearly 12,000 Confirmed Dead; Aftershocks, Crumbled Infrastructure Hinder Rescuers

(CBS/AP) With about 12,000 people already confirmed dead, China's state media said Tuesday that almost another 29,000 were still thought to be buried under rubble in two cities near the epicenter of the massive earthquake that struck the day before.

The state-controlled news agency, Xinhua, said 3,629 were confirmed dead, and 18,645 buried under rubble in the city of Mianyang. Xinhua also quoted rescue workers as saying there was serious damage to the buildings and roads in Mianyang and that water and gas supplies had been cut off.

Earlier Tuesday, Xinhua said local officials in Mianzhu said 10,000 people "remain buried," a day after a 7.9-magnitude quake. They gave no other details.

Mianzhu is 60 miles from the quake's epicenter of Wenchuan. It took rescue workers until Tuesday to reach Mianzhu. The estimate that 10,000 people remained buried there came soon after a group of 1,300 troops reached the city.

Disaster Response Director Wang Zhengyao said at a news conference earlier that 11,921 people had died so far from the earthquake. It was not clear whether that figure included the thousands found in Mianyang.

Across China's central Sichuan province, thousands of rescuers frantically dug through massive piles of rubble in hopes of finding survivors. They did so at great risk to themselves, as aftershocks with magnitudes as great as 6.0 on the Richter scale continued to jolt the region.

Also hampering the rescue effort were bad weather, and transport and communications infrastructures left in tatters by the quake.

The powerful temblor toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday. It was the country's worst quake in three decades.

The quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam.

CBS News reporter Celia Hatton in Beijing reported that China's communist leaders quickly vowed to launch an all-out recovery effort.

As Tuesday dawned, rescuers were frantically searching for more survivors, but rain was compounding the difficulty. Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to the region, said rain was forecast for the next several days.

The government was pouring in troops to aid in the disaster recovery. Xinhua said 16,000 were in the area and 34,000 more were en route.

Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, Xinhua reported. Photos showed people using cranes, mechanical hoists and their hands to remove slabs of concrete and steel.

The news agency reported on Tuesday that another 1,000 students and teachers were buried and feared dead when a high school collapsed in Beichuan county. The building was reduced to a pile of rubble two yards high, it said.

Buried teenagers struggled to break free from the rubble in Juyuan, "while others were crying out for help," Xinhua said. Families waited in the rain near the wreckage as rescuers wrote the names of the dead on a blackboard, Xinhua said.

Parents of the dead students built makeshift religious altars at the site, resting the corpses on any available piece of plywood or cardboard, and burning paper money and incense in a traditional honor for their child in the afterlife, according to National Public Radio's Melissa Block.

The earthquake hit one of the last homes of the giant panda at the Wolong Nature Reserve and panda breeding center, in Wenchuan county, which remained out of contact, Xinhua said. But the agency reported that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe.

In Chengdu, it crashed telephone networks and hours later left parts of the city of 10 million in darkness.

"We can't get to sleep. We're afraid of the earthquake. We're afraid of all the shaking," said 52-year-old factory worker Huang Ju, who took her ailing, elderly mother out of the Jinjiang District People's Hospital. Outside, Huang sat in a wheelchair wrapped in blankets while her mother, who was ill, slept in a hospital bed next to her.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported Tuesday that nearly 10,000 people died in central China's Sichuan province alone and 300 others in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.

Worst affected were four counties including the quake's epicenter in Wenchuan, 60 miles northwest of Chengdu. Landslides left roads impassable Tuesday, causing the government to order soldiers into the area on foot, state television said, and heavy rain prevented four military helicopters from landing.

The Chinese government made an official statement officially welcoming any foreign aid that could be made available.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters Tuesday that many countries had offered to help relief efforts from Monday's earthquake. He said disaster authorities in China would make contact with relevant countries and organizations.

But the spokesman gave no specifics about what kind of assistance China would accept, such as whether it would include just aid supplies or letting in outside experts.

Wenchuan's Communist Party secretary appealed for air drops of tents, food and medicine. "We also need medical workers to save the injured people here," Xinhua quoted Wang Bin as telling other officials who reached him by phone.

To the east, in Beichuan county, 80 percent of the buildings fell, and 10,000 people were injured, aside from 3,000 to 5,000 dead, Xinhua said. State media said two chemical plants in an industrial zone of the city of Shifang collapsed, spilling more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia. The news agency said about 600 people died in Shifang and up to 2,300 were buried by rubble.

Though slow to release information at first, the government and its state media ramped up quickly.

Wen, a geologist by training, held an early morning emergency meeting near Chengdu and ordered troops and police to clear the road north to Wenchuan.

"We must try our best to open up roads to the epicenter and rescue people trapped in disaster-hit areas," he said. Wen said the earthquake "was more serious" than expected.

Television footage showed large boulders and downed trees blocking the road to Wenchuan.

Disasters always pose a test for the 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, with the government already grappling with public discontent over high inflation and a widespread uprising among Tibetans in western China while trying to prepare for the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

"I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy," President Bush said in a statement.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge sent his condolences to President Hu Jintao, adding: "The Olympic Movement is at your side, especially during these difficult moments. Our thoughts are with you."

The quake was the deadliest since one in 1976 in the city of Tangshan near Beijing that killed 240,000 - although some reports say as many as 655,000 perished - the most devastating in modern history. A 1933 quake near where Monday's struck killed at least 9,000, according to geologists.

Monday's quake occurred on a fault where South Asia pushes against the Eurasian land mass, smashing the Sichuan plain into mountains leading to the Tibetan highlands - near communities that held sometimes violent protests of Chinese rule in mid-March.

Much of the area has been closed to foreign media and travelers since then, compounding the difficulties of getting information. Roads north from Chengdu to the disaster area were sealed off early Tuesday to all but emergency convoys.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/05/13/...e=mostpop_story

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

"...an estimated 60,000 people remain missing."

Map of the Earthquake Area

Chinese rescue teams have reached the epicentre of Monday's devastating earthquake, Wenchuan county, where an estimated 60,000 people remain missing.

A few hundred soldiers and police finally made it through late on Tuesday after being hampered by broken roads and bad weather.

They found 500 bodies within a few hours - but have still not searched many devastated areas.

The official death toll is more than 12,000, and looks set to rise sharply.

Thirty Chinese troops in the town of Yingxiu, in Wenchuan, rescued 300 injured residents, state news agency Xinhua said.

But of an estimated population of around 10,000, only 2,000 residents were found alive, a local official said.

"They could hear people under the debris calling for help but no one could, because there were no professional rescue teams," He Biao said.

While the first relief efforts are only just reaching Wenchuan, almost 20,000 soldiers and armed police have deployed across the other parts of Sichuan province badly hit by the quake, the defence ministry told Xinhua.

Frustration

Another 30,000 soldiers are en route. They face a daunting task.

In one city, Mianyang, 18,000 people are said to be buried under the rubble, and in nearby Mianzhu, at least 4,800 are reported trapped.

Elsewhere, two schools have collapsed, each trapping nearly 1,000 students and staff.

More:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7399732.stm#map

Some BBC pictures:

Rescuers try to help a stranded student out of the debris of a primary school in Mianzhu.

Here a young man waits to be rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in Beichuan.

Dozens of students were killed when the Juyuan Middle School collapsed in Dujiangyan.

A huge rock was dislodged by an aftershock in the Mianyang area. The quake itself struck on Monday afternoon.

LaoPo

[toptuan]

My first instinct was to run, but I decided there was no point. If the building was

going to fall I would never reach the ground floor before that happened.

Good thinking. Take it from an elderly Japanese lady who gave advice after a lifetime of experiencing earthquakes (large and small) in Japan...

"When earthquake come, I always go upstairs. Better to be upstairs when upstairs become downstairs."

I have been through several significant earthquakes in Tokyo over last 5 years, at floors 55 (the highest floor allowed to build in Japan) and 29.

One time the building swayed 2m and I could see other buildings swaying like trees. Nobody ever ran, everything was calm and, during the longest one that lasted 5 minutes and 20 seconds, after the first minute people already were in seizmic center web site and started talking about where and how powerful the earhquake was.

One time, at level 3 at home, glass with beer topled from my table, power lines were swaying like jumping rope.

It's standard of building in Japan that protect lives and properties.

On CNN I just saw some up-close photos of large concrete slabs which were broken up after having fallen vertically from higher floors. Not one trace of reinforcing or re-bar could be seen. Normal Japanese and western construction would show tons of twisted metal reinforcement in such a picture, if indeed, a structure collapsed (cf. Kobe earthquake--elevated expressways--which had other extenuating circumstances).

Along with the sadness at loss of life, comes anger against the shoddy engineering and construction which DIRECTLY contributes to the death toll in an earthquake. 1976 saw 250,000 deaths in the same region--result of the same problems. It is sad that the engineers/builders who rebuilt ALSO disregarded human life for economic expediency, and didn't apply the obvious lessons offered by the quake of 30 years ago. Reinforcement technology for masonry was readily available back then--IN ASIA.

Closer to home, most of Thailand's construction is in the same boat as China. We've just been lucky....so far...

(Below image from Bangkok Post shortly after earthquake preceding the Boxing Day Tsunami)

[steve187]

My thoughts are with the people of china at this time, here is a link to some photos showing the suffering.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2008-05...ent_6681988.htm

[TAWP]

My Chinese friends keeps me updated. This url has latest info at most times.

http://www.6park.com/news/messages/81755.html

[cloudhopper]

Closer to home, most of Thailand's construction is in the same boat as China. We've just been lucky....so far...

Good post. Sure glad I don't live or work in a high rise!

[lannarebirth]

China warns of burst dams as death toll rises

By Emma Graham-Harrison

DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - The death toll from China's deadliest earthquake in decades climbed to nearly 15,000 on Wednesday, as officials warned of calamities downstream from broken rivers and dams strained to bursting point.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080514/wl_nm/quake_dc

[lannarebirth]

China says troops rush to plug dangerous cracks in dam

By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer

HANWANG, China - Thousands of Chinese soldiers rushed on Wednesday to repair a dam badly cracked by the country's massive earthquake, while rescuers arrived for the first time in the epicenter of the disaster.

China's top economic planning body said that the quake had damaged 391 mostly small dams. It left "extremely dangerous" cracks in the Zipingpu Dam upriver from the earthquake-hit city of Dujiangyan and some 2,000 soldiers were sent to repair the damage, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Xinhua said Dujiangyan would be "swamped" if major problems emerged at the dam.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_...hina_earthquake

[LaoPo]

China quake toll exceeds 19,500

BEIJING (Reuters) - The death toll from the deadliest quake to hit China in three decades has risen to above 19,500, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday, citing the provincial government of southwestern Sichuan province.

Link with (some shocking) photos:

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idU...usmorningdigest

LaoPo

[kumsamut]

end of the world is coming

[jstumbo]

My Brother-in-law's wife's family is from that area. She has not been able to contact anyone yet.

[LaoPo]

'Five million' homeless in quake

Almost five million people have been left homeless by Monday's devastating earthquake in China's south-western Sichuan Province, officials say.

They said the extent of the problem only became clear when communications were restored.

So far, 22,069 deaths have been confirmed and thousands remain missing. It is feared up to 50,000 may be dead.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, visiting the province, said rescue work was at its most crucial phase.

Premier Wen Jiabao said the quake was the most destructive and widespread since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.

Its scale was greater than that of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which left 240,000 dead, he said.

China has announced an investigation into why so many schools have collapsed.

Further aftershocks - one measuring 5.9 - continued to strike the area, causing landslides that buried vehicles and knocked out communications only just restored.

'Top priority'

Sichuan Vice-Governor Li Chengyun said 4.8 million people were now in "temporary shelter" following the earthquake.

Local officials said the extent of homelessness in the region only became clear on Friday.

"Before today, communications and roads to some cities and counties in the province were cut off because of the quake," the official told AFP news agency.

"That's why the number has increased so fast now that links have been restored with the cities and counties."

As the search for survivors continued intensively on Friday, four people were reportedly pulled out alive.

Four days after the quake, Chinese CCTV showed pictures of a five-year-old boy, looking weak and bruised, being taken from the rubble, bandaged and strapped to a stretcher.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old nurse was rescued from the ruins of a hospital, and two survivors were found buried together beneath a collapsed office building in the shattered district of Beichuan, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Mr Wen, who has been in the area since the earthquake struck, said the focus of the effort was still reaching survivors.

"Saving lives is still our top priority, as long as hope of survival still exists," he said.

Foreign rescuers

The Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster.

"The challenge is still severe, the task is still arduous and the time is pressing," said Mr Hu.

"We must make every effort, race against time and overcome all difficulties to achieve the final victory of the relief efforts."

He was speaking after arriving in Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he was to view the relief efforts and meet troops and medical personnel.

The first foreign rescuers have now arrived in the devastated region.

Thirty-one Japanese experts arrived on Friday morning, state media said, and a second team with sniffer dogs was due there later in the day.

Taiwan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore are also sending teams to help in the rescue effort.

Troops have now reached all of the affected areas, state media says. It adds that about 159,000 people were injured in the quake and 4.8 million people have been relocated.

But the task remains huge.

Seven schools, including two nursery schools, collapsed in the town of Mianzhu alone, burying more than 1,700 students.

In Hanwang town, about 700 students were buried when Donqi middle school collapsed.

The BBC's James Reynolds in Hanwang described seeing rescuers emerge from a building carrying two bodies, and watching parents wait at the school, hoping their children would come out alive.

'Big issues'

More than 200,000 houses have collapsed in Sichuan province, while more than four million have been damaged in some way, Xinhua said.

In Mianzhu, one of the worst-hit towns, one woman said the focus should switch to caring for the survivors.

"The focus is on saving lives, and they say food and a place to live are small issues as long as you're alive," Fan Xiaohua told Reuters news agency.

"In fact, they are very big issues right now," she said.

While the government says the search is still the priority, it is stepping up the effort to get aid to the millions of people displaced or cut off by the disaster, says the BBC's Dan Griffiths in the Sichuan capital Chengdu.

Tens of thousands of Chinese troops and police are in the region to help with relief efforts but damage to roads is making it difficult to get to the worst-hit regions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7405103.stm

LaoPo

[george]

Thousands flee as flood threatens quake-hit town

BEIJING: -- Residents of an earthquake-devastated town in south-western China fled on Saturday as a nearby lake was reportedly in imminent danger of flooding the town.

The residents of Beichuan in Sichuan province began rushing onto hillsides and some clambered onto motorcycles to leave the town as quickly as possible, Ariane Reimers, a correspondent from German broadcaster ARD, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by telephone.

The river through the town had almost dried up, Reimers said, apparently because earthquake damage had caused a blockage upstream.

The government's official Xinhua news agency earlier said the military had ordered the evacuation of injured people from the town.

"Forty-six seriously injured people need to be evacuated immediately in Beichuan county at the epicentre of the Sichuan quake, where the water level of a lake is rising rapidly, and the lake may burst at any time," the agency said.

Meanwhile, an estimated 5 million people left homeless by the earthquake in awoke Saturday from a fifth night in difficult conditions, with tons of relief supplies flooding into the disaster zone.

Amid wrecked infrastructure, the lack of sanitation for the surviving population and the inability to bury the more than 50,000 estimated dead as fast as bodies were being pulled from the rubble was raising the spectre of disease.

Shortages of medical staff, medicines and blood supplies were being reported for the 169,000 people injured in Monday's massive earthquake.

The Chinese military was planning to erect two additional field hospitals in the region, though equipment still needs to be transported to the scene.

China's Air Force was set to fly 10 more medical teams and 1,100 tons of relief supplies into Sichuan, drawing on military stockpiles, including 5,000 tents, 200 electrical generators, food, clothing and blankets, Xinhua reported.

Military transport aircraft are expected to fly up to 50 sorties over the weekend, airlifting supplies from across China to the Sichuan provincial capital, Chengdu.

In other news, the German Foreign Ministry reported Saturday that the German embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Chengdu were trying to ascertain whether a foreign man pulled from the rubble was indeed a German citizen as Xinhua had reported.

A spokeswoman said the embassy and consulate would look into reports of a few Germans reported missing in the quake-hit region.

-- DPA 2008-05-17

[Kerryd]

More aftershocks hit the area, raising concerns that rivers blocked by previous landslides could burst and flood areas where rescue oprations are still ongoing.

Aftershock hits China, causing flood fears

The 5.7-magnitude temblor -- earlier measured at 6.1 -- hit the province five days after a massive earthquake caused widespread death and destruction. It was also the second aftershock in as many days.

(same article)

A Chinese cabinet spokesman said the confirmed death toll is now 28,881.

[george]

Update:

After-shock fears cause panic as quake toll hits 40,000

BEIJING: -- The confirmed death toll from China's Sichuan earthquake rose to about 40,000 on Tuesday, as residents of quake-hit areas fled their homes following a forecast of a major aftershock measuring between 6 and 7 on the Richter scale.

The government said the death toll had risen to 39,577 in Sichuan province, with some 500 deaths reported in neighbouring south-western regions and more than 32,000 people still missing, according to an earlier state media report.

Local television and radio broadcast a forecast by the Sichuan seismological bureau of an aftershock on Monday or Tuesday in Wenchuan county, the epicentre of the devastating 8.0-magnitude quake on May 12.

The bureau warned the local government and people to be prepared for possible emergencies caused by the new aftershock, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Residents of Sichuan's Beichuan town, one of the most devastated areas, were fleeing to safer areas on Tuesday because they feared an aftershock could shatter a natural dam which formed above the town after last week's earthquake.

Heavy rain was also forecast for Beichuan on Tuesday.

Many people in the provincial capital, Chengdu, tried to leave the city or slept outside in case the aftershock came overnight, the agency said.

Chengdu's main roads were jammed with cars on Monday night and Tuesday morning, especially around petrol stations, it said.

The agency said Chengdu was calmer by Tuesday afternoon.

It quoted government seismologist Cheng Wanzheng as saying the aftershock would affect all the worst-hit towns and villages near the Longmenshan fault line but was unlikely to cause major damage in Chengdu.

The warning sparked panic in some neighbouring regions, especially Zunyi city in Guizhou province, where many people slept outdoors on Monday night.

More panic followed reports that residents of a rural area of Zunyi saw a mass migration of frogs on Monday, a traditional sign of an impending earthquake, the agency said.

Early Tuesday, a team from Shanghai rescued a manager of a hydropower plant who had been trapped under rubble for 179 hours in Wenchuan's Yingxiu township.

The team had battled for more than 30 hours to free 31-year-old Ma Yuanjiang, feeding him water and glucose through a straw to keep him alive.

Several more survivors were rescued from collapsed buildings on Monday, but the government last week said it expected the final death toll to reach more than 50,000.

Rescue workers have begun spraying disinfectant onto rubble in some areas where they have given up the search for survivors.

The government has started to shift its focus towards caring for the survivors and on Tuesday the foreign ministry said it had agreed to medical teams from Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia working in Sichuan.

Troops on Monday reached the last 77 villages that had been cut off for about one week since the earthquake, the agency said.

But some roads in 52 townships in Sichuan remained blocked and telecommunications were still not restored to 62 townships, reports said.

The government began three days of national mourning for the earthquake victims Monday and suspended the Olympic torch relay through China.

More than 20 aftershocks measuring 5 or above on the Richter scale have already hit Sichuan since May 12, hampering relief efforts and causing some new casualties.

-- dpa 2008-05-20

[LaoPo]

China earthquake death toll rises to 51,151

(Xinhua)

Updated: 2008-05-22 17:30

BEIJING -- The death toll in China's major earthquake increased by 9,798 to 51,151 as 10:00 a.m. Thursday, according to the Information Office of the State Council.

And 288,431 people were injured and 29,328 missing in the 8.0-magnitude quake that jolted southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12.

The Ministry of Health said that 3,444 people injured in the quake had died in hospitals as of Thursday noon.

The hospitals have taken in 68,608 injured people since the quake. By noon on Thursday, 28,497 people had recovered and been discharged while 33,665 were still being treated, the ministry said. Meanwhile, 3,002 patients have been transferred outside of Sichuan for further treatment.

Power supply restored in most part of quake-hit areas but Beichuan county, one of the worst hit ones, remained black out and Hongyuan had seen electricity cut off again due to aftershocks, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said in a statement.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05...ent_6705385.htm

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

China earthquake death toll rises to more than 62.000...

Up to Sunday 25 May:

*62,664 people dead

* 358,816 injured

* 23,775 still missing

* More than 5.4 million homeless

638,305 rescued and resettled

More than 8,000 aftershocks, biggest 6.0

69 dams faced danger of collapse, 310 in dangerous state and another 1,424 facing moderate risks

Source: Chinese government

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7419756.stm

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

Aftershocks demolish another 420,000 houses

Official Death toll: 67,183

Missing people: 20,790

Homeless: more than 5 Million

Two aftershocks have destroyed about 420,000 houses in the Chinese region hit by an earthquake two weeks ago, the official Xinhua agency says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7422106.stm

The top image was taken in 2006, showing the river in its normal state. The second and third images were taken after the quake.

Quake images show lake forming

Landslides caused by the Sichuan earthquake have blocked rivers and formed new, possibly unstable, lakes.

Satellite images taken by the Taiwan's National Space Organisation (NSPO) show one such lake forming in Beichuan County, one of the areas worst hit by the quake.

LaoPo

[Scott]

I believe the death toll has now exceeded 68,000. The danger from the Quake Lake continues as well. Very tragic situation.