Asia-Pacific News
China allows Japanese rescue team to help in quake-hit area
May 15, 2008, 4:16 GMT
Beijing - China has agreed to Japan sending an emergency rescue team to help with efforts to save tens of thousands of people buried under rubble after a devastating earthquake, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.
‘The Chinese government has agreed to the Japanese government sending professional rescue personnel to help with rescue efforts in the Sichuan earthquake disaster area,’ ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.
The Japanese team is believed to be the first foreign team that China has allowed into the area since a 7.8-magnitude earthquake destroyed thousands of buildings in Sichuan and other areas of south-western China on Monday.
Several towns close to the epicentre were nearly razed, a military relief officer said Wednesday, as the confirmed death toll rose to about 15,000.
At least 26,000 people were believed to be buried in collapsed buildings, while the official Xinhua news agency said more than 30,000 people were missing or out of contact in Sichuan’s Shifang city alone.
Military helicopters began flying aid, medical personnel and relief troops to isolated settlements near the epicentre on Tuesday.
But the extent of the damage and casualties in the worst-hit county of Wenchuan, which has a population of 105,000, remained unclear.
A paramilitary officer who was one of the first outsiders to reach some of the worst affected areas on Tuesday said that several towns were almost razed to the ground.
Heavy rain had initially prevented helicopters from flying emergency aid to Wenchuan while troops were still trying to restore two badly damaged main roads to the county town.
The earthquake was felt in cities hundreds of kilometres away, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok.
Classmate “clawed me out with bare hands,” quake survivor recalls
2008-05-15 12:14:17
WENCHUAN, Sichuan, May 15 (Xinhua) — Xiang Xiaolian, a 13-year-old girl, murmured: “The boy clawed me out with his bare hands,” as she lay in bed at the No.1 Hospital affiliated to the West China Medical University.
Xiang was in class at the Xuankou Middle School when the 7.8-magnitude quake hit Wenchuan County on Monday.
Xuankou is a boarding school, and more than 1,200 teachers and students fled to the mountains after the quake. How many were killed is not known.
The total death toll from the quake around southwestern China has been confirmed to be about 15,000.
“The whole building swayed as we were in chemistry class; the teacher asked us to run from the third floor classroom,” recalled Xiang, who was buried by a cement slab and lost consciousness.
Time passed and when Xiang re-awakened, she could sense the light but fainted again. The next time she awakened, it was dark. “I knew it was night then,” she said
“I missed my parents,” said Xiang, adding that “I had to see them again before I died.” Xiang fell into a coma.
HE CLAWED ME OUT WITH BARE HANDS
Xiang was awakened by the voice of Ma Jian, her classmate.
“Xiao Lian, where are you?” the boy shouted in the open air. “You must hold on,” Ma encouraged her as he clawed at the rubble with his hands.
Xiang cried:” Don’t leave me, Ma Jian, at least, not until after I die.”
“I will not, you are the youngest in our class,” Ma replied, digging.
Each time Xiang fell asleep, Ma would call out to her to wake up. After about four hours, Ma freed her. By then, his hands were badly hurt.
They both cried as she was freed, and Ma carried her on his back, out through the school gate.
The wall suddenly collapsed.
“If it had been a few minutes later, neither of us would have escaped,” said Xiang.
(Writing by Xinhua reporter Shi Rong, with reporting by bureau reporters in Sichuan)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/15/content_8176216.htm