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Chinese army moves into earthquake affected areas

Canada News.Net
Monday 12th May, 2008

The death toll resulting from the powerful earthquake that hit China on Monday afternoon today is continuing to rise.

China's most devastating earthquake in three decades has killed nearly 12,000 people in western Sichuan province and razed 80 per cent of the buildings in one county.

The worst-hit area has been cut off from rescuers.

Officials say there has been no word from three townships nearest the epicentre in Wenchuan, a hilly county of 112,000 people.

The 7.8 magnitude quake struck in the middle of the school day on Monday and toppled at least eight schools.

About 900 teenagers were buried under a three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.

Some of the buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins when rescuers arrived. Many were already dead and others were crying for help.

At another Dujiangyan school 420 students were trapped and less than 100 were able to be rescued

Dangerous chemical producing factories were also hit and at least one hospital collapsed.

The quake's epicentre was 92 kilometres northwest of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. It registered 7.8 on the Richter scale and could be felt as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi.

Local authorities in the city of Dujiangyan say a three-storey school building collapsed trapping some 900 students under the rubble.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed to the area, has given an emotional speech where he said: 'Not one minute can be wasted. One minute, one second could mean a child's life.'

Mr Wen has vowed to spare no effort and has urged residents to remain calm while rescuers do their work.

The Government has rushed troops and medical teams to dig for survivors and treat the injured.

Severed roads and rail lines have blocked the way to Wenchuan, and local officials described crumpled houses, landslides and scenes of desperation.

Tents, food, medicine and satellite communications are being rushed to the area.

Beijing has allocated US$30 million for disaster relief and has deployed the army to help the victims.

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Comments on this story

Hindu
05-13-08, 08:00 PM

I pray for lost souls

I salute the Chinese government for immediate response to their citizens in this state of tragedy. Following the reports in TV, the 1st headline is “Earthquake in China”, 2nd headline “Chinese President authorizes the full mobilization of their resources for rescue operations. This is what leadership means, The president has no 2nd thought about system, government or protocol, for him the lives of their citizens is the ultimate. I salute you Mr. President. Every leader should learn from the President of China’s immediate response. We see with our own eyes in TV the the quick reponses shown by the Chinese government and their people after the presidential order. In contrast the American response to Hurricane Katrina and the Burmese reponse recently shows political system that has not shown any human values. I pray for the departed souls to rest in peace and fast recovery for the injured. For those who lost their belongings, believe in GOD and self, life have to go on. Life is a mystery and will remain a mystery, we human beings have to live with it....Aum shanti, shanti, shanti

Anonymous
05-13-08, 01:57 PM

unbelievable

When this planet is falling apart, bursting at its seams and taking thousands of lives with it, these people are still cursing each other, bickering and dickering. What a piece of work is man. No wonder we self-destruct. ARMAGEDDON is near.

An Australian Chinese
05-13-08, 08:51 AM

To DRAGONS OUT TO GET THE TIBETANS and OneVoice

Are you human beings or animals? You are laughing at more than 10,000 innocent died lives, showing your dirty soul.

Anonymous
05-13-08, 05:29 AM

DRAGONS OUT TO GET THE TIBETANS.

I think most of the victims are tibetans as sichuan have a great number of them there. The Dragons of China must be lashing out at the tibetans for daring to disturb the peace of China.

OneVoice
05-13-08, 12:16 AM

Earthquake China

Original headline: “China conducts underground nuclear tests - blames earthquake for damage"

Anonymous
05-12-08, 09:41 PM

Earthquake China - Victim numbers mount

Efficient,fast rescue work by the Chinese government. The burmese government is just the opposite intentionally.

help
05-19-08, 10:20 AM

don't talk big

We should offer our help. and stop talking rubbish. Save the victimes

kawahchan
05-13-08, 01:28 PM

Although there is no scientific proof, but may be the mainland’s Chinese use up too much of the underground waters that had been changing the earth’s inside structures, faults and movement. The other fright is the Mid-East, Russia and Africa are sucking up too much crude oils from our earth’s underground, what will be happened next, we let the expert-scientists to research and study.

Midnight 99.9
05-12-08, 10:43 PM

FFFFRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEDDOOOOOOMM

waltky
05-13-08, 12:58 AM

Is God’s retribution for persecution of Tibet...

China Quake Death Toll Nears 10,000
Monday, May. 12, 2008 — A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing nearly 10,000 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country’s worst quake in three decades.

]
The 7.9-magnitude quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan’s provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam. Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, the official Xinhua news agency said. Photos showed people using cranes, mechanical hoists and their hands to remove slabs of concrete and steel.

Buried teenagers struggled to break free from the rubble, “while others were crying out for help," Xinhua said. Families waited in the rain near the wreckage as rescuers wrote the names of the dead on a blackboard, Xinhua said. Parents of the dead students built makeshift religious altars at the site, resting the corpses on any available piece of plywood or cardboard, and burning paper money and incense in a traditional honor for their child in the afterlife, according to NPR’s Melissa Block. The earthquake hit one of the last homes of the giant panda at the Wolong Nature Reserve and panda breeding center, in Wenchuan county, which remained out of contact, Xinhua said.

In Chengdu, it crashed telephone networks and hours later left parts of the city of 10 million in darkness. “We can’t get to sleep. We’re afraid of the earthquake. We’re afraid of all the shaking," said 52-year-old factory worker Huang Ju, who took her ailing, elderly mother out of the Jinjiang District People’s Hospital. Outside, Huang sat in a wheelchair wrapped in blankets while her mother, who was ill, slept in a hospital bed next to her. Xinhua reported Tuesday morning that the death toll was approaching 10,000, but did not provide a more precise figure. It said the vast majority of the fatalities occurred in Sichuan with 216 more deaths in three other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing.

[url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1739578,00.html?xid=feed-rss-netzero:

MORE[/url]

Malaysian
05-13-08, 01:10 AM

What an idiot

Waltky, who is this god is yours? One that relishes the loss of 10,000 or so innocent lives and blames it on politics? . Or is it the Dalai Lama you were referring to?

Anonymous
05-13-08, 10:11 PM

Some thoughts

Hindu;82087:
I salute the Chinese government for immediate response to their citizens in this state of tragedy. Following the reports in TV, the 1st headline is “Earthquake in China”, 2nd headline “Chinese President authorizes the full mobilization of their resources for rescue operations. This is what leadership means, The president has no 2nd thought about system, government or protocol, for him the lives of their citizens is the ultimate. I salute you Mr. President. Every leader should learn from the President of China’s immediate response. We see with our own eyes in TV the the quick reponses shown by the Chinese government and their people after the presidential order. In contrast the American response to Hurricane Katrina and the Burmese reponse recently shows political system that has not shown any human values. I pray for the departed souls to rest in peace and fast recovery for the injured. For those who lost their belongings, believe in GOD and self, life have to go on. Life is a mystery and will remain a mystery, we human beings have to live with it....Aum shanti, shanti, shanti



Simple cogent point.

China controls it’s media completely the US sure as hell does not.
China saying something does not equal fact.
China says lots then does as it feels and clamps down on anyone who says otherwise.

Anonymous
05-17-08, 08:55 AM

R . I . P .

MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL OF YOUR PEOPLE LOST IN THIS TERRABLE TRAGERDY.


REST IN PEACE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS REST IN PEACE......


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