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The death toll in China's earthquake climbed past 13,000 and
looked set to rise much higher after media said some 19,000 people
were buried in rubble in just one area.
Rain and severed roads hampered rescuers in the mountainous area
near the epicentre of the 7.9-magnitude quake in the south-western
province of Sichuan, China's worst earthquake in three
decades.
State media reported devastation as troops reached stricken
villages near the epicentre in Wenchuan, a remote county cut off by
landslides about 100km north-west of the provincial capital,
Chengdu.
Officials announced late on Tuesday that 500 Wenchuan residents
were confirmed dead, Xinhua news agency reported. But the toll
there and elsewhere is likely to soar.
Thirty People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops arrived at Wenchuan's
Yingxiu township and rescued 300 residents, Xinhua said. But only
2,000 were found alive in the town of 12,000, according to a local
official.
"They could hear people under the debris calling for help but no
one could, because there were no professional rescue teams," state
television quoted the official He Biao as saying.
About 60,000 people were unaccounted for across Wenchuan.
"What we most need is medicine. There is no medicine, there are no
doctors and after such a long time, no food," He said.
In a school of 850 students in Qingchuan County, Sichuan, 90 were
killed and another 191 were missing, a local official told
Xinhua.
A further 18,645 people were buried under debris in the city of
Mianyang, Xinhua said.
In Mianzhu in Sichuan, rescuers said the death toll had risen to
3,000. About 500 people were pulled out alive from crushed
buildings.
An earlier report said 10,000 people there had been buried under
rubble.
Attempts to find survivors have become a race against time and bad
weather. Premier Wen Jiabao, who has thrown himself into the task
of co-ordinating these efforts, sounded a grim note.
"The disaster situation is worse than expected, and the rescue
sites are quite complex," Wen said, according to
Xinhua.
Nothing to eat
Officials have said more powerful aftershocks could hit the region
and mudslides may add to the toll.
A strong aftershock rocked Chengdu on Tuesday, one of 2,354 in the
province over the past day that have unnerved residents.
More than 50,000 troops joined disaster relief efforts or were
advancing to the area. The Chinese air force said 6,500 troops were
parachuted into hard-hit areas where rain and clouds had prevented
military helicopters from landing.
Premier Wen ordered troops to clear roads to Wenchuan. "Please
speed up the shipping of food. The kids have nothing to eat now,"
he said amid crying children.
In Dujiangyan, about midway between Chengdu and the epicentre,
bodies lined streets and residents cradled possessions in front of
homes reduced to piles of rubble.
Rescuers worked through the night, pulling bodies from ruined
buildings after the earthquake, which rolled from Sichuan across
China and was felt as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi.
About 900 teenagers were buried under a collapsed three-storey
school building. Frantic relatives tried to push past a line of
soldiers, desperate for news of their children.
"We're still pulling out people alive, but many, many have died,"
said one medical worker.
Eleven tourists suspended in a gondola over a gorge in northern
Sichuan's scenic Jiuzhaigou area were brought to safety after being
trapped for nearly 24 hours.
A group of 31 British tourists visiting the Wolong panda reserve in
the quake-hit area have returned safe and uninjured to the
provincial capital, China's Foreign Ministry said late on
Tuesday.
China said that there had been no reports of foreign casualties by
midday (04:00PM NZ).
The quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan tremor
in northeastern China where up to 300,000 died.
China's benchmark stock index ended down on Tuesday and trading in
the shares of 66 companies was suspended.
Analysts said they did not expect serious economic effects from the
disaster but supply shortages could fuel inflation, already at a
near 12-year high.
The State Administration of Grain ordered local governments to
ensure grain and cooking oil supplies and price stability.
Offers of aid have come from all over the world, three months
before the Beijing Olympics.
Olympic officials assured foreigners China was safe.
A minute's silence will start each stop of the domestic torch relay and celebrations will be scaled down.
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