Society
Toll hits 1,339 as cold threat looms in Yushu
By Wang Ru (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-17 08:25
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The death toll has climbed to 1,339 from a devastating earthquake in northwest China's Qinghai Province, with another 332 still missing, rescuers said Saturday.
The 7.1-magnitude quake, which struck the Yushu County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu at 7:49 a.m. Wednesday, has also left 11,849 injured, 1,297 severely, Xia Xueping, a spokesman for the rescue headquarters, told a press conference.
Chances of survival for those still buried dim by the minute
Yushu, Qinghai - The death toll has climbed to 1,144 and another 417 people remain missing after a powerful tremor early Wednesday shook a remote, ethnic Tibetan area miles above sea level in the northwest Qinghai province.
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 A 13-year-old Tibetan girl is saved by monks from Yushu Jiegu temple and China International Search and Rescue Team, April 16, 2010. [Xinhua] |
Rescuers say that number is expected to rise as freezing nights, with temperatures around minus 3 C, become increasingly difficult for survivors under the debris to bear.
The 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which shook the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Yushu at 7:49 am Wednesday, also left 11,744 people injured, the rescue headquarters said late Friday evening.
Chances of survival were getting slimmer by the second for people still buried under the rubble here in Gyegu, a mountain town of 100,000 people, even as tens of thousands of rescuers, soldiers, police, firefighters and medical workers from around China joined local residents and monks in the ongoing search for life.
An emotional Premier Wen Jiabao, who postponed a trip to Southeast Asia and rushed to Yushu Thursday evening, ordered rescuers to save every possible survivor "at all costs" and offered comfort for the local victims.
"The disaster you suffered is our disaster. Your suffering is our sufffering. Your loss of loved ones is our loss. We mourn as you do. It breaks our hearts," Wen said in remarks repeatedly broadcast on national television.
President Hu Jintao, who was in Brazil, canceled scheduled stops in Venezuela and Chile to come home to direct rescue and relief efforts, which are now headed by Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu.
Throughout Friday, brief moments of happiness and relief swept the town when survivors were pulled from the debris.
But for many of the victims who shivered in the open through freezing weather as food, water and supplies ran short, sorrow and grief were the prevailing theme.
The government on Friday said survivors will get 500 grams of grain a day from May to July, and that each homeless survivor without an income would also qualify for a daily allowance of 10 yuan ($ 1.50).
Orphaned children, widowed elderly and disabled people could get a monthly allowance of 600 yuan. The allowance would come from a 200-million-yuan fund earmarked by the central government for relief efforts, said a circular released on the civil affairs ministry's website.
The State Administration of Grain said about 135 tons of grain and 16 tons of edible oil had been sent to Qinghai on Thursday.
Rescue headquarters say 15,000 residential buildings - or 85 percent of all homes, mostly mud-and-wood structures - had been flattened. A total of 103 students and 12 teachers had been killed, with another 35 trapped under the debris and 38 others still missing, official figures showed.
About 500 injured residents had been transported to Xining as of Friday morning, and authorities hope to have all the remaining severely injured survivors - about 600 - hospitalized by Saturday in Xining or the nearby provincial capitals of Chengdu and Lanzhou.
Officials have, however, warned of delays due to difficulties in reaching the quake-hit regions. Roads to and within this region on the majestic Qinghai-Tibetan plateau have been jammed since the disaster.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, health authorities on Friday assured the public that no epidemic outbreak had been spotted so far in the quake zones. Efforts would be made to ensure clean drinking water, food and environment in its epidemic prevention work, and at the same time focus on prevention in key regions, on key diseases and key groups of people, said Chen Xianyi, director of the health ministry's disease prevention and control bureau.
The 11th Panchen Lama sent his condolences to the quake-ravaged zones and donated 100,000 yuan ($14,600), according to China Central Television.
The Buddhist Association of China held religious services in Beijing on Friday to pray for victims of the Yushu earthquake and raised 2.3 million yuan ($341,000) for disaster relief.
Xinhua contributed to this story.
CHINA DAILY
