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China struggled on Friday to bury the dead and offer relief to
those left injured, homeless and without food and water by the
earthquake that may have killed more than 50,000 people.
From the heart of the disaster zone in the south-western province
of Sichuan, where the 7.9 magnitude quake struck on Monday, Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao urged rescuers on, but hopes were fading for
those still trapped under rubble.
"Saving lives is still our top priority as long as hope of survival
still exists," the official Xinhua news agency quoted Wen as
saying.
President Hu Jintao headed to Sichuan early on Friday "to console
the victims and inspect the rescue and relief work," the Xinhua
news agency said. It will be his first trip to the region since the
disaster struck.
Wen also repeated calls from the Communist Party leadership to
ensure social stability as frustration and exhaustion grows among
survivors, many of whom have lost everything and are living in
makeshift tents or in the open air.
About 20,000 are confirmed dead from the quake and at least another
25,000 remain buried, officials said.
In the Sichuan town of Yingxiu, where bodies were lined up along
the river bank, a Communist Party official warned that epidemics
could break out if bodies were not soon buried or cremated.
"We are in urgent need of body bags," the official, Bai Licheng,
told Xinhua.
"Air-dropped food and drinking water are limited and far from
meeting the demand," he added.
The Ministry of Health issued a notice ordering bodies to be
cleaned where they were found and buried as soon as possible, far
from water sources and downwind from populated areas.
More than 3,000 soldiers were racing the clock to search for
survivors in Yingxiu, a township of about 6,600 people.
Bai said bodies were still trapped in the debris and blocked roads
meant that heavy lifting gear could not get through.
China has mobilised 130,000 army and paramilitary troops to the
disaster area, but the quake buckled roads and triggered mountain
landslides, meaning that relief supplies and rescuers have
struggled to reach the worst-hit areas.
Struggling to cope
In the town of Shifang, a small hospital struggled to cope with
injured patients, who were being treated in any space available -
including a under a covered car park at the back of the building
and under tents on the pavement.
Doctors and nurses rushed around, checking dressings, changing
saline drips and administering to the wounded.
"We've seen nobody come here from the government," said one woman,
tending to her injured son.
"They're trying to help, but they've been so busy," added a young
man standing next to her. "In Mianzhu alone there's thousands
dead," he said, referring to a nearby area.
Hundreds of damaged dams have also raised fears of collapse or
flooding that could inundate towns and cities that are already
struggling to recover from the quake.
China has asked the United States for satellite images to help
locate victims and identify damaged infrastructure. In Sichuan and
neighbouring Chongqing, at least 17 reservoirs have been damaged,
some dams have cracked or are leaking water, and officials have
warned the full extent of the hazard was as yet unclear.
China was also accepting foreign help to bolster rescue efforts in
the disaster, the deadliest since more than 240,000 people were
killed in a 1976 earthquake in the north-eastern Chinese city of
Tangshan.
The first foreign rescue team, a group from about 60 people from
Japan, also reached Sichuan on Friday.
China has accepted further offers of rescue teams from Russia,
South Korea and Singapore, the Foreign Ministry said.
In the epicentre, Wenchuan, Chinese air forces succeeded for the
first time on Thursday in dropping equipment, Xinhua said, citing
military sources.
Such airdrops had earlier been stymied by heavy rain and cloud cover.
Are you a Kiwi in China who has been affected by the earthquake?
You can tell us about your experience by emailing ONE News or ONE News reporter Melissa Stokes
