QUAKE ROCKS CHINA 9,000 FEARED DEAD
Toll likely to soar as many areas are still cut off
900 students buried in a single school ………..Ben Blanchard CHONGQING, CHINA
900 students buried in a single school ………..Ben Blanchard CHONGQING, CHINA
CHINAS most devastating earthquake in three decades killed nearly 9,000 people on Monday, with the toll likely to soar as authorities struggle to reach casualties in large areas cut off from relief.
The earthquake that hit Chinas southwestern province of Sichuan killed 8,533 people, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday, citing the provincial government.The epicentre of the 7.8 magnitude quake was in a mountainous region about 100 km from Sichuans capital Chengdu, a bustling city of 10 million.
The road started swaying as I was driving. Rocks fell from the mountains, with dust darkening the sky over the valley, a driver for Sichuans seismological bureau was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
The quake hit in the middle of the school day, toppling eight schools in the region. Chemical plants and at least one hospital were also flattened, trapping many hundreds, state media said.
About 900 teenagers were buried in the rubble of a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.
Local villagers had already helped dozens of students out of the ruins and five cranes were excavating the site as anxious parents looked on, Xinhua said. Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help, the agency said.
Nightfall, severed communications and blocked roads have hampered rescue efforts and the death toll was likely to rise significantly.An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County alone, state media said.
As many as 10,000 in Beichuan were feared injured and 80 percent of the buildings there had been destroyed, Xinhua said. There had been more than 300 aftershocks, state television said. Beichuans population is 1,61,000, meaning about one in 10 residents were killed or injured. The county is a part of Mianyang city, and about 160 km from the provincial capital, Chengdu.
Hundreds of people were buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, the online edition of the official Xinhua news agency said.
About 6,000 people were evacuated, Xinhua said, adding that more than 80 tonnes of highly corrosive liquid ammonia had leaked.Hundreds of people were buried under rubble in Shifang in Sichuan as several schools, factories and dormitories collapsed during the quake, the official Xinhua news agency said. Hundreds were also buried under rubble in a collapsed hospital in Dujiangyan city in Sichuan.
The quakes epicentre was in nearby Wenchuan, but its force was enough to cause buildings to sway across China and as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok.
The Sichuan plain is one of Chinas most fertile agricultural areas, but it relies heavily on an irrigation system linked to the 2,000-year-old Dujiangyan flood control works. Which means the quake could exacerbate inflation, already running at the fastest pace in 12 years. Reuters