China quake victims flee 'flood' - risk of dam falling apart?

There has been panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan after reports the entire city could be flooded by a river bursting its banks.
The BBC's Paul Danahar in Beichuan says there was a stampede as thousands of people fled to higher ground.
The whole city was evacuated, forcing the suspension of all rescue efforts, our correspondent says.
Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake, in which it is feared about 50,000 people died.
On Saturday the number of confirmed deaths rose to 28,881. The Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless by the disaster.
Our correspondent in Beichuan says the city went from a scene of rescue and relief into mayhem.
"Everybody just ran - rescuers, army relief teams, medical workers and locals - and people who were in the process of being rescued had to be left behind.
"We were in the process of filming a man about to be pulled out after hours of digging and the rescue team had to abandon him and run."
The Xinhua news agency warned that a lake, formed by landslides blocking a river, "may burst its bank at any time".
However, the authorities later said the city was not under threat from the water.
Our correspondent returned to the heart of the city as the rescue effort resumed, but he says the majority of people are remaining on the surrounding hillsides.
"It is not surprising," he says. "This entire community has been shaken to its core, they are surrounded by unstable buildings which threaten to topple at any moment, and the people have been deeply traumatised by what has happened."
The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort, which has garnered some success.
On Saturday, several people were dug out of the rubble, including a 52-year-old man who was pulled free after 117 hours buried in debris.
Xinhua also reported that a German tourist was pulled from the rubble - though it later revised its story, saying the mountain climber had not been buried, just cut off by a landslide, and that he made his own way to safety.
Mass graves
Rescue teams from South Korea, Singapore and Russia have joined Japanese and Taiwanese experts taking part in the massive search.
The specialist teams are equipped with sniffer dogs, and fibre-optic cameras and heat sensors to detect people buried under the rubble.
But the number of people being pulled out alive are few and increasingly it is dead bodies which are being retrieved.
The authorities have resorted to burying the bodies in mass graves in an effort to prevent disease.
People in the quake zone are being told to wear face masks and disinfectant teams are out in force.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Chengdu says that five days on China's efforts are now squarely focused on getting help to those who survived the earthquake.
Rubble from destroyed buildings is being taken away and streets are being cleared.
In some of the worst hit areas, people now have tents, fresh water, and something to eat. But in more inaccessible parts of the province, the authorities are still struggling to get help to survivors.
Race against time
China's president has urged rescuers throughout the earthquake-struck province of Sichuan to race to save lives.
Visiting the south-western province, Hu Jintao said "time is pressing" during the effort's "most crucial phase".
"Although the time for the best chance of rescue, the first 72 hours after an earthquake, has passed, saving lives remains the top priority of our work," Mr Hu told distraught relatives of those still missing.
On Friday, Mr Hu toured Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he viewed relief efforts and met rescue workers.
Correspondents say the Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster.
Premier Wen Jiabao said the quake was the most destructive and widespread since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.
Its scale was greater than that of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which left 240,000 dead, he said.

Pictures of the Quake Zone:










God bless those who are affected by the quake.

China quake toll 'to top 50,000' - destructive power of mother earth

More than 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that devastated parts of China on Monday, state media say.
The warning came after the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 19,500, as rescue efforts continue to search for thousands still trapped.
About 10 million people across Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake, state media said.
China is mobilising 30,000 extra troops to Sichuan to help the 50,000 already involved in rescue efforts.
China says it will accept foreign aid and has agreed to help from rescue teams from Japan and its rival Taiwan.
Correspondents say the death toll, which rose from 14,866 on Wednesday, is expected to rise further as rescue workers dig more victims out of collapsed buildings.
People are still being pulled out alive - a three-year-old girl and a pregnant woman were both found alive on Wednesday.
Desperate search
The BBC's James Reynolds, in Hanwang, says rescuers and relatives of those trapped reject suggestions time has run out for finding survivors alive.
At Juyuan Middle School, near Dujiangyan about 50km (32 miles) from the epicentre, 900 children were trapped in the rubble. Parents frantically pull away the debris from the ruins.
"It's not that we don't trust the rescuers," local resident Deng Yuehong told Associated Press Television on Thursday.
They have done a lot of work to search for survivors but they couldn't search all the places in such a large area here and there may be some places that they ignored.
"We just want to have another try to see if there are any bodies of school children buried here."
The Chinese government has appealed to the public to donate basic equipment to help in the rescue operation. It said hammers, cranes, shovels and rubber boats were urgently needed.
The health ministry says there will also be an increasing demand for medicines and sophisticated medical equipment as the rescue operations continue and survivors are treated for injuries such as bone fractures, crushed internal organs and kidney failure.
More than 10,000 medical workers, police and volunteers have been sent to Beichuan County, one of the hardest-hit areas in Sichuan province, where up to 5,000 are thought to have died.
Appeal
Deputy health minister Gao Qiang says more than 64,040 people have been treated since Monday's earthquake - 12,587 of them are seriously injured, Xinhua reports.
Officials say about 10 million people have been affected by the quake, many are in refugee camps, without proper shelter, food or clean water.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have issued an emergency appeal for medical help, food, water and tents.
Gu Qinghui, a member of the Red Cross assessment team told AP television: "I just came back from Beichuan County this morning, basically the whole county has been destroyed, there is no Beichuan County anymore.
"No one knows what has happened in particular areas, in the villages. I am sure that the numbers (death tolls) will just go up continuing day by day."
Olympic tribute
Tonnes of aid has been dropped from aircraft into isolated or inaccessible places in the province.
China says its contributions to the relief effort, in both cash and goods to the quake-hit areas, had risen to 1.34bn yuan ($192m).
Members of the public have also donated millions of yuan in both cash and goods.
Organisers of the Beijing Olympics say a minute's silence will be held at each stage of the torch relay, which is making its way through China.
Donation points are being set up along the route. It was due to leave Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province on Thursday.

Excerpted from BBC News, 15th May 2008

There are also news that the whole town being wiped out from the face of Earth!..God bless those who are trapped under the massive rubble and help those through those who lost their loved ones......

Thousands dead in Chinese quake

A powerful earthquake has killed at least 8,500 people in China's south-western Sichuan province, up to 5,000 of them in just one county.

Many more are feared killed and injured in other parts of the country after the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.8, struck at 1428 local time (0628 GMT).

At least 50 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a school where an estimated 900 students were buried.

President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.

The epicentre of the earthquake was about 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.

Because the earthquake struck in the middle of the day, it is feared that many schoolchildren may be among the victims.


One of the worst-hit areas appears to be Beichuan county, part of the Mianyang city municipal area, about 50km from the epicentre.




Some 80% of buildings there were reported to have been destroyed, leaving between 3,000 and 5,000 people dead and up to 10,000 injured.

Meanwhile hundreds of people were reported to have been buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, and at least five other schools were reported to have collapsed.

And there are fears the death toll could turn out to be much higher once the damage in Wenchuan county - the epicentre - is assessed, says BBC China analyst Shirong Chen.

The area is very rugged, full of mountains and valleys and a number of roads are connected with bridges from one mountain top to the next, he says.



Wenchuan county is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas. The centre could not be reached by phone, it was reported.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Chengdu immediately, said China needed "calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership".

"We will definitely overcome this major disaster," he promised.

US President George W Bush expressed condolences to victims' families, while Japan offered to send aid.

There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and 50 dead.

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".

Fast response

Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was felt in Beijing, 1,545km (960 miles) away, and the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,800km (1,200 miles) away.

It was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua said.


Eyewitness Gilles Barbier: 'It was very scary'

The province is the most populated part of China - home to 87 million people.

State television said the quake had not caused major damage to Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, or to the nearby Three Gorges Dam.

Troops and helicopters have been sent to help with relief work.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville says this is probably the the most significant natural disaster to hit China in recent memory, but that the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.

He also says it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.

The quake was felt as far away as Beijing, he says, meaning millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.

After Cyclone Nargis, here comes Earthquake. Is mother Earth showing us symthoms of illness? May God Bless those affected by these horrible disasters.