Posted on 05/14/2008 12:37:27 AM PDT by stlnative
China quake toll soars as full horror begins to emerge
14/05/2008
DUJIANGYAN (AFP) - The full horror of the devastating China earthquake began to emerge Wednesday as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll well above 20,000.
Military and police teams punched into the heart of the disaster zone, with 100 troops parachuting into a county that was previously cut off while planes and helicopters air-dropped emergency supplies.
But the message that came back from this mountainous corner of southwestern Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck two days ago.
The death toll has soared well above 20,000, but that toll is rising by the hour as more information comes in from stricken communities.
"The losses have been severe," Wang Yi, who heads an armed police unit sent into the epicentre zone, was quoted as saying by Sichuan Online news site.
"Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed to the ground."
A least 7,700 people died in the small town of Yingxiu alone, state media cited a local government official as saying, with only 2,300 surviving.
Across Sichuan, countless thousands more people are missing or buried under the rubble of shattered homes, schools and factories.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said 100,000 military personnel and police had been mobilised, indicating the epic scale of the country's worst earthquake in a generation.
The air drop started with planes and helicopters flying dozens of sorties, dropping tonnes of food and relief aid into the worst-hit zone, most of it cut off from the outside world by landslides and road closures.
The destruction around the epicentre in remote Wenchuan county is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and building after building levelled.
Rescue teams have been seen pulling bodies and badly injured survivors out of the ruins.
As well as Yingxiu, CCTV television said air drops were also made in nearby Mianyang -- where the death toll jumped to nearly 5,500 -- as well as Mianzhu and Pengzhou.
Helicopters also flew to Wenchuan with food, drinks, tents, communications equipment and other supplies.
The rescue effort has been badly disrupted since Monday by heavy rain, and the Meteorological Authority forecasting more later in the week, raising the risk of fresh landslides.
Amid the setbacks, the nation focused on the precious minutes going by for those who were buried under rubble but may have survived.
Cries for help were heard from a flattened school in Yingxiu, where people were forced to try and dig out survivors with their hands, state media said.
"The situation in Yingxiu is even worse than expected," one local official said.
In towns and villages across a swathe of Sichuan, heart-rending scenes were played out as grief-stricken families searched for missing loved ones.
In the city of Mianzhu, where at least 3,000 died, rescuers picked through twisted metal and concrete trying to find people whose voices could be heard under the rubble.
"My younger brother is in there," 42-year-old Li -- his eyes bloodshot from sleep deprivation -- said next to a heap that was once a bank.
The local disaster relief headquarters said rescuers had been able to pull 500 people alive out of the debris of collapsed buildings, but 20,000 in three outer villages were still out of reach.
Wednesday's leg of the Olympic torch relay in eastern Jianxi province began with a minute's silence before the runners set off.
Organisers of the Beijing Olympics said they would scale down the relay as the torch makes it way to the capital for the summer Games, a further knock to its troubled round-the-world journey after earlier protests over Tibet.
World powers including the United States, European Union and United Nations as well as the International Olympic Committee have rallied round with offers of help.
China welcomed the offers but said conditions were "not yet ripe" to allow in foreign rescue teams, citing damage to transport links.
A Japanese foreign ministry official in charge of emergency aid said Japan offered rescue teams with sniffer dogs, but China had made no request.
US President George W. Bush and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao discussed the disaster by telephone, with Washington offering half a million dollars in initial disaster aid.
bkmark.
more than 12,000 now, it’s increaing.....
Thanks for your comments. They were informative and I appreciated them.
read leader story to thread - 20,000+ now
Fire on derailed freight train finally put out
2008-05-14 15:56:58
WUDU, Gansu, May 14 (Xinhua) — The fire on a train carrying gasoline derailed by Monday’s earthquake was finally been put out on Wednesday morning.
The 40-car freight train, including 12 gasoline tankers , was derailed inside a tunnel in northwest China when Monday’s massive earthquake struck.
The fire had burnt about 40 hours before it was put out at 6 a.m. Wednesday on the Baoji-Chengdu railway in Huixian County, Gansu Province. Firefighters used more than 20,000 sandbags and hundreds of wet quilts to cover the north exit and vents of the tunnel, to starve the fire of oxygen.
The Baoji-Chengdu railway is still suspended.
“Today’s job is to pour water and foam into the tunnel to prevent the fire from burning again,” said Vice Minister of Railways Lu Chunfang, who is in charge of the fire control operation.
When conditions were ripe, the derailed cars would be put on the track and moved out of the tunnel, Lu said.
People could not enter the tunnel at the moment because of the heat, poisonous gas and the danger of explosion.
More than 1,600 residents were evacuated, an official with the Huixian County disaster relief headquarters said.
The heat of the blaze could be felt 100 meters away on Tuesday.
The train just entered the tunnel in Huixian County at 2:28 p.m. on Monday when the massive quake struck. The train had been en route from Baoji, Shaanxi Province to Guangyuan, Sichuan Province, said Wang Hongtao, deputy director of the Xi’an Railway Bureau’s general office.
Huge rocks blocked the tunnel exit. The driver put on the brakes, but the train still hit the rocks at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, leading to the derailment of the locomotive and 38 carriages, Wang added.
The locomotive caught fire first, and flames then engulfed the tankers.
Two train drivers were injured and have been sent to hospital. They were recovering on Tuesday afternoon.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/14/content_8169167.htm
Thanks for the information DB. That’s good to know.
I watch the Science and Discovery channels. The other day I caught a program that showed how they are building some manufactured homes for replacement of the homes lost to Katrina.
They’ve really got it down to a science. By the time they are done, that home is basically one single piece. All sections are glued together. It’s supposed to be able to stand up to 160 MPH winds.
It would seem some of those tricks could be utilized in normal homes, so that they would stay in tact during earthquakes above 7.0, perhaps up to 8.0 or higher. I know they are already using a lot of trick, and perhaps they’ve incorporated all the same tricks, into the homes you’re talking about.
As long as they stay on the foundation, they should remain quite solid. Even if the foundation shifted, at least the home wouldn’t crumble in on the occupants.
China had indicated it was willing to accept international assistance but yesterday suggested the conditions were not appropriate to allow foreign rescue teams into the country.
They thanked us for the offer but given the transport and communications challenges in the region (they said it) means that the foreign rescue teams coming into the country could not be received at this point.”
Right now is when they need them the most. You have to get to people quickly, or they are lost. Delaying, will cost lives. That’s a shame.
I just suspect China is still nervous about letting us fly around the nation with our aircraft. They may not want the Chinese people to see our modern aircraft, vehicles, supplies and food stuffs either.
“What, Americans don’t hate us? They aren’t devils?”
Can’t have that get out.
Has anyone let the new folks from China who signed on know about this new thread?
I posted a link to it on the old thread that they are hanging out on in a larger than normal font, so they should see it.
the post is here on the old thread...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2014670/posts?page=1190#1190
old thread starting at post 1...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2014670/posts?page=1
Time for some sleep...
I’ll be back when I wake with more headlines.
Prayers for the Chinese during this difficult time!
thanks for all the updated information about this epic tragedy for the people and land of China.
Cannot stop praying for the survivors and for those who have lost everything including loved ones...
It is an overwhelming devastation on such a massive scale...my hat is off to all those in China who are working hard to help those suffering so terribly.
China has an army of what, 200 million or so? They have many resources to bring to the region in such desperate need. And, yes, many countries around the world would like to help however they can.
Some NGO’s are already at work in China as in Burma (Christian relief groups specifically)...Quietly without fanfare.
China is much more open than Myanmar, and much more effective in saving, the PLA has arrived the seismic center to rescue the survivors, though it was delayed by the heavy rains and bad roads.
it’s really really bad...
only 2,000 survived among 13,000
prayers up...
Please see the real photoes from Shifang,Sichuan province.
http://laiba.tianya.cn/laiba/CommMsgs?cmm=281&tid=2599846442034078635
Come on mate, I live in Shanghai and all the people in China love the States, except some brainwashed kids in college. And the people here know the States better than the Americans know China.
You need to come to Shanghai have a look, cheers!
China has 2.3 million troops :)
Amazing pictures - heart wrenching - but so many good people helping ..... prayers.
Thanks for that information. 2.3 million is all? I am surprised.
one more before I shut down...
16:58, May 14, 2008
178 students confirmed dead in one school in Sichuan
In one single school in earthquake-hit Sichuan Province 178 students were confirmed dead on Wednesday morning.
A three-storied residential building at the Muyu Middle School in Qingchuan County collapsed in the quake, burying 285 students who were taking noon nap. Another 139 students escaped.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, 178 were confirmed dead, 84 buried students were rescued and 23 others remained missing, according to Chen Zhengyong, head of the county government.
Source:Xinhua
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6410776.html
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