China: 15,000 dead, 26,000 buried under debris
SICHUAN PROVINCE, China (CNN) — China’s death toll from a massive earthquake soared by several thousand Wednesday as rescue teams poured into the country’s hardest-hit areas, state-run media reported.
The Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday that the death toll had risen to 14,866. An unofficial tally of deaths in individual communities — as reported by the news agency over several days — puts the toll at 19,565.
Xinhua also said nearly 26,000 people were still buried under debris and another 14,000 missing. More than 64,000 people sustained injuries.
Rescuers announced a piece of good news Wednesday, hailing the rescue of an eight-months pregnant woman as a miracle, The Associated Press reported.
Zhang Xiaoyan spent 50 hours trapped in debris after an apartment building collapsed in Dujiangyan. Watch Zhang Xiaoyan being rescued
Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao headed to the quake’s epicenter in Wenchuan county Wednesday afternoon, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Time is life, said Wen, who is heading up China’s relief effort.
Local officials said the quake killed more than 7,700 people in the town of Yingxiu — about three-quarters of the population, according to Xinhua. Watch children being pulled from the rubble
Yingxiu is in Sichuan province, where 20,000 Chinese soldiers have been mobilized for rescue and recovery, state media reported. Another 30,000 were en route to the region.
Thousands of troops are traveling by train — on rail lines that are also transporting supplies. Watch report on plight of survivors
The top priority for the railway network in China is to deliver disaster-relief troops, personnel and goods to the affected area as soon as possible, said Wang Yongping, spokesman for the Ministry of Railways. He said many passenger trains would be diverted to ferry troops. View a map of the affected area
Rubble hides quake’s terrible toll
Wednesday brought new horrors from the rubble.
At one three-story school in Sichuan’s Qingchuan county 178 students were confirmed dead after the building collapsed, a local official said.
Rescuers found at least 500 dead Tuesday in the Chinese district at the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake. Heavy rain, collapsed bridges and damaged roads complicated efforts to get troops and aid workers to the worst-hit towns. Watch rescuers dig for victims
We will do our utmost to reopen the links to epicenter as soon as possible — so as to restore the transportation links to the whole province, said Feng Zhenglin, China’s vice minister of transport.
The epicenter of Monday’s quake was in Wenchuan county, Sichuan, about 1,500 km (960 miles) southwest of Beijing.
During a visit to a school in Shifang, where more than 100 children were trapped beneath rubble, Wen promised that saving lives was a top priority.
We will put our best efforts forward to save all those alive who can be saved, he said. This disaster has all tested us. We all have to band together and have confidence and push forward. Search continues for quake victims
He also visited a stadium in the city of Mianyang, where more than 10,000 people had been temporarily resettled, Xinhua reported.
The transportation of food must be faster, the news agency quoted him as telling government officials. Children are short of food. Watch how China’s reaction to this crisis compares to previous disasters
Soldiers dig with their hands
Hundreds of soldiers and disaster workers descended on Wenchuan, many of them digging by hand, according to the disaster relief headquarters of the Chengdu Military Area Command. Soldiers said only 3,000 of the town’s 12,000 residents survived the quake.
More than 70 percent of the town’s roads were damaged, and almost all bridges had collapsed, they reported.
All the beds were filled at Sichuan University Huaxi Hospital, one of the largest in the provincial capital of Chengdu. Watch survivors cope with with living outside
Nurses said the most common injuries were broken bones, bruises and scrapes. State media reported thousands of victims had sought care at the hospital, where medical supplies were running low.
Fear of becoming trapped during an aftershock led about 200 people to sleep outside in cots, on lawn chairs and on the ground outside the hospital in an area intended for bicycles.
At the Third Military Medical University Southwest Hospital, state-run media reported that nurses and doctors were donating their own blood.
Millions of homes destroyed
China is no stranger to natural disasters: A 1976 earthquake here killed more than 250,000 people. But analysts said the Chinese response to Monday’s quake had been the most transparent of any disaster, with state media frequently updating casualty tolls and deploying troops rapidly to the worst-hit areas. View a photo wall of damage and rescue efforts
Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan, said about 3.5 million homes were destroyed in the province. David Jones, an English teacher in the city of Chengdu, said residents were camping out on riverbanks, in parking lots and other open spaces, despite terrible weather.
People are doing everything they can to stay outside, he said. In a lot of cases, they can’t return to their buildings.
He said survivors were lining up to donate blood and remained calm, but appeared extremely tired.
