China quake buries hundreds as death toll mounts
Pastor Dale Morgan
China quake buries hundreds as death toll mounts*
* Mark Tran and agencies
* guardian.co.uk,
* Monday May 12 2008
Nearly 900 students were today buried in Sichuan province after a
powerful earthquake hit China's central mountainous region, raising
fears of a soaring death toll.
At least 107 have been confirmed dead in the 7.5-magnitude quake that
struck 57 miles (92km) north-west of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan,
the official Xinhua news agency reported.
It said around 900 students had been buried in a high school in Juyuan
township, Dujiangyan city.
Tremors from the quake, which struck at 2.28pm (7.28am BST), were felt
as far away as Thailand and Vietnam.
Rescue teams were trying make contact with areas cut off since the
tremor hit.
The disaster struck China at a time when the government had been sending
relief supplies to cyclone-hit Burma.
"We felt continuous shaking for about two or three minutes. All the
people in our office are rushing downstairs. We're still feeling slight
tremblings," said an office worker in Chengdu.
Tremors were felt in Beijing, about 930 miles away, and the Thai capital
of Bangkok, 2,050 miles away, where buildings swayed for several
minutes, although there were no immediate reports of injuries. Buildings
in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, shook for several seconds.
In Beijing's financial district, many workers left their buildings but
there were no visible signs of damage.
"People were shouting 'get out, get out', so we all ran out of our
dorm," said a student at a university in nearby Chongqing.
The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred 18 miles below the
Earth's surface.
A spokesman for the China Earthquake Administration said it was still
checking the epicentre and scale of the quake.
An official with the Sichuan provincial seismic bureau said the
epicentre of the quake was in Wenchuan county, in the Aba Tibetan and
Qiang autonomous prefecture. The mountainous region is largely populated
by Han Chinese but has sizeable Qiang and Tibetan populations.
Chinese state television said the government was preparing to send
rescue teams to the region.