Posted on 05/14/2008 4:29:09 PM PDT by blam
China earthquake: Exodus begins from Sichuan
By Richard Spencer in Hanwang Town, Sichuan Province
Last Updated: 11:05PM BST 14/05/2008
Tens of thousands of people have poured down from the mountainsides of Sichuan searching for food and water as rescuers evacuated towns where more than 40,000 people are dead, buried or missing. Rescue teams are digging through rubble, trying to reach survivors of a powerful earthquake in China.
Helicopters began to airlift residents out of the villages of Wenchuan county at the epicentre of the earthquake which struck China on Monday, while others walked for hours into the valleys and plains to the south and east. The county is still cut off from land-based relief by landslides.
But the exodus might yet be heading into more danger, with emergency workers attempting to plug gaps in two major dams.
The Zipingpu dam, above the city of Dujiangyan with its population of 600,000, was said at one stage to be in an "extremely dangerous state" with cracks more than four inches wide appearing in its face, though the water resources ministry later said on its website that it was stable for the time being.
Tulong dam, further north on the Min river, was said by officials to be near collapse, something which would have a knock-on effect on a series of dams and power stations further downstream.
Almost 400 dams altogether were said to have been affected by Monday's earthquake – the wet and mountainous province is criss-crossed by some of China's biggest and fastest-flowing rivers.
While some dams, like Zipingpu, are modern, others were built when construction standards were lower.
All day long, the 100,000 troops now assigned to the rescue effort grappled with the wreckage of major cities, towns and villages across a wide area.
There were some successes, including the rescue of a three-year-old girl in Beichuan, one of the worst-affected towns, and an eight-months pregnant woman trapped under an apartment block in Dujiangyan.
But by the evening the official death toll stood at nearly 15,000, with another 25,000 reported buried and more unaccounted for.
In Wenchuan, a paramilitary officer told local television that a third of houses had been destroyed and 90 per cent damaged.
Meanwhile, the survivors were starting to look ever more desperately for supplies, walking for hours out of their mountain villages to seek help.
"There is nothing left of my village," said Fu Yuanming, who had walked for 10 hours from Village Number 3 of Qingping district near the epicentre to Hanwang town. "We need help. Our people have nothing to eat, they have nothing to drink."
He said a landslide had blocked the river above the village, turning into a reservoir that was about to burst.
Along all the roads in the region, makeshift camps have been set up. Residents of the towns lined up patiently as fire engines served out buckets of water; in the villages, locals ran out into the road to forcibly stop trucks and beg for supplies of noodles and biscuits.
"Someone had better set up relief coordination, or the people will resort to robbery," said one man in the village of Wudu.
More than 10,000 people were crowded into the sports stadium in the city of Mianyang, Sichuan's second biggest city and an important base for China's high-tec industry. Many had walked from Beichuan.
Ralph Johnson, a British teacher who lives in the city and runs a pub there, said that almost a million people were now spending their days on the streets. That included the city's 800,000 population, many of whom were like him unable to return to their damaged flats, and thousands more refugees.
He was also waiting to hear news of the mountain primary school for which his regulars have raised funds, and which feeds a secondary school known to have collapsed with up to 1,000 dead.
"We have not heard anything from the school," he said.
A British embassy rapid response unit began work in the provincial capital Chengdu to help coordinate the search for tourists trapped in the region. Nineteen members of a Kuoni tour party that were on their way to the Wolong giant panda reserve near Wenchuan when the earthquake hit were still unaccounted for last night.
There were unconfirmed reports that a group of 50 tourists had been located at the reserve, and 12 Americans who had been missing spoke to Worldwide Fund for Nature officials by satellite phone.
But Sir William Ehrman, the British ambassador, told The Daily Telegraph that there had still been no contact with the British group.
"We are extremely concerned," he said. "We are trying all we can to locate those who are unaccounted for."
News China Lies on Tibet Protest Why not let The Press in
Now keep in mind the previous links I posted showing how the Chinese used disguised policemen and soldiers to start the riots.
You’ve been watching me from afar. lol ; )
I have met many good Chinese people, and of course there are so many great things about the culture, history, cuisine, etc. Everything that’s good about China, though, has nothing to do with the evils of COMMUNISM and is in spite of communism, not because of it. The Chinese people could accomplish and enjoy so much more in the world if they were not burdened with one of the worst governments in the world.
Good luck to you and all of your countrymen who are struggling to deal with this horrible earthquake.
I think we have a mix here. Not so many on this thread but of the 24 I have seen so far there are several different points of view. Some are even fighting with each other over who is telling the truth about China. With 1.3 billion people and a huge territory I expect they just have lived different experiences. Then, some are very nationalistic and some are more grounded in reality and simply see things as they are.
Oh, thank you so much fatima. And here I thought no one really liked me. I try so hard to be obnoxious after all. lol
this is youself thinking.
anyway!
you are must to know a allegory:”forest is gigget have all kinds of bird.” goodness or nefariously,beauty or uglily.fat or thin......
so ,i think you are only few in world!
although ,you are not agree with me.but i am not damn you.
time will prove (chinese is good ,and taiwan and tibet belong to chinese)
thanks for you wishes!
my countrymen is bad!
but,we are have belief conquer hard.
althoungh ,more people is die ,but ,i hope they are in paradise is happy!!!
Laz, cut the sh*t.
Hmmm I am not taking your word for what the people of Tibet want. They want to be rid of China. Think about it like Karma. Maybe if you free Tibet better things will happen for China too! FREE TIBET!China will never (willingly) free Tibet. For the same reason that Israel will never give up the Golan(if it has any sense). It's too strategically valuable. For all the talk of "invitations" Tibet is just too much of a prize for China to give up. That's why the Dalai Llama has given up on full independence and wants autonomy.
Well thats good..So you won't be coming here to live in the USA! Good news for us! I don't ever plan to go to China. Its evil & vile & you get sick there too. Plus we are still mad you tried to kill our pets & poison our children's toys. You know how many American children hate China? Very very many!WTF dude. The Chinese government and greedheads are pretty vile, but Chinese people can be wonderful. Don't make it a national thing.
FREE TIBET!
that;s wrong!!
you are not in TIBET,
whereby you are clamorous:’FREE TIBET!”
that;s insufferable for our!
Shame on China then. No wonder bad things happen over there. They should free the people of Tibet & nobody will change my mind about that! Prayers for the people of Tibet that some day they are free of China.
Too Bad. I will say it loud & clear & just for you! FREE TIBET! FREE TIBET! FREE TIBET! I don’t care what you say either. The people of Tibet need to be FREE!
Shame on China then. No wonder bad things happen over there. They should free the people of Tibet & nobody will change my mind about that! Prayers for the people of Tibet that some day they are free of China.They should. Unfortunately the world doesn't work like that. We have strategic territories too(Guam and Saipan for example, although they actually *like* us for the most part), so I can't really fault the Chinese for protecting their national self interest. What I can get mad at them for is for screwing with the demography of Tibet and denying the people of Tibet autonomy. Then again, totalitarian governments aren't that good with the hearts and minds stuff, although the Chinese government is certainly trying.
BTW, I very much agree with your tagline. May Jim be well soon.
Where the hell is your ZOT? Are the admins getting pedicures? Or what?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.