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BEICHUAN, China: A powerful aftershock rattled China’s southwest
early Sunday, hampering frantic efforts to find earthquake survivors
and help nearly five million people facing the risk of disease and
flood.
The 6.0-magnitude tremor shook some of the
worst-affected parts in Sichuan province six days after China’s
worst natural disaster in a generation left an estimated 50,000
people dead.
The death toll from the powerful earthquake that
jolted southwest China’s Sichuan province had risen to 32,477
nationwide as of 2 p.m. Sunday, while the number of injured reached
220,109, according to the emergency response office under the State
Council.
China has suffered more than 20 aftershocks of
5.0 or above on the Richter scale since last Monday’s initial
7.9-magnitude quake, amid all-out efforts to rescue more than 10,000
people buried under the rubble.
One survivor was pulled out Sunday after 139
hours under the debris of a flattened hospital in the ravaged
Sichuan provincial town of Beichuan, state media said.
At least 63 more people were rescued alive
Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, defying experts’
warnings that survival chances greatly diminish three days after an
earthquake.
But not all the rescue stories have happy
endings. A man pulled alive from the rubble after 129 hours—and
whose leg had to be amputated by rescue teams—died in a hospital
Sunday of heart failure, state media said.
State television reported rescue crews in the
quake-ravaged region had gone on heightened alert following the
overnight aftershock, fearful further strong tremors could hurt the
teams.
It said rescuers were still trying to determine
if there were any casualties from the aftershock.
“Rainfall and the aftershock have added
difficulties to rescue efforts,” it said, giving no details.
Xinhua said nuclear facilities had been checked
for signs of any damage and “were confirmed safe and
controllable.”
Relief workers by Saturday had finally cleared
through landslides and completed repairs to restore land connections
with the worst-hit counties of Beichuan and Wenchuan.
The full horror is now emerging nearly a week
after the earthquake, which damaged more than 15 million buildings
in the remote, mountainous area that has escaped much of China’s
soaring economic growth.
Luo Hong, a 22-year-old woman who sells beer,
learned that her 55-year-old father, Luo Zaiping, was killed at the
coal mine where he worked.
“He worked hard his entire life. Originally he
wasn’t supposed to work Monday and then this happened,” she
said. “Now I want even more to work to help people who have
survived.”
The official People’s Daily newspaper urged a
nationwide “battle” against the disaster amid a rush by ordinary
Chinese to volunteer.
“More than ever, people are aware that to win
the battle against the devastating earthquake requires the
contribution of the whole country,” the communist party’s
flagship newspaper said in a commentary.
Major challenges lay ahead, with more than 4.8
million people left homeless.
Thousands of people were evacuated in Sichuan
province Saturday over fears of floods due to a landslide that had
blocked a river.
Rainfall also sent a mud-rock flow into a
quake-hit town in Gansu province, which neighbors Sichuan,
threatening to demolish more homes, Xinhua said.
Authorities were also racing to prevent the
outbreak of disease, the risks heightened by the rotting carcasses
of 12.5 million livestock and poultry.
“Combatting epidemics is the most urgent and
the biggest task facing us right now,” Wei Chao’an, vice
minister of agriculture, said Saturday.
The World Health Organization said that the lack
of safe drinking water or proper waste disposal along with cramped
conditions in temporary shelters was “conducive” to outbreaks.
“Preventing communicable disease outbreaks is
the key public health issue now facing the People’s Republic of
China,” the UN body said in a statement.
President Hu Jintao, on a tour of Sichuan
province, offered thanks to the foreign governments and
organizations that provided help after the quake, which struck two
months after unrest in Tibet set off an international furor that
cast a shadow over the upcoming Olympic Games.
Teams from Japan, Russia, Singapore and South
Korea, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong, have been allowed in to help
the effort, although other offers from elsewhere have been declined.
-- AFP
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