China earthquake: 60,000 still missing
Pastor Dale Morgan
China earthquake: 60,000 still missing*
By Richard Spencer in Dujiangyan
Last updated: 6:58 AM BST 14/05/2008
Around 60,000 people are missing near the epicentre of the Chinese
earthquake, prompting fears that the death toll could rise dramatically.
The official number of dead is currently put at around 20,000 but the
state news agency reported that several times that figure are
unaccounted for across Wenchuan, northwest of the Sichuan provincial
capital, Chengdu.
It comes as China poured 50,000 troops into Sichuan in an attempt to
find any remaining survivors of Monday’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake among
the mud, rubble and tangled buildings.
But they had to battle to get through landslides which had cut off Wenchuan.
Just under 19,000 people are believed to have been buried under debris
in Mianyang - one of the cities worst affected.
One steam turbine factory just outside was almost wiped out by the
quake, and 500 workers and their family members were missing, local
media reported.
Amid the grief, there were also moments of relief when survivors were
found. In Mianzhu, where rescuers said the death toll had risen to
3,000, about 500 people were pulled out alive from crushed buildings.
A team of 1,300 soldiers and medical staff arrived on foot in Wenchuan,
the county where the earthquake struck just before 2.30pm on Monday.
In Yingxiu, a town of 12,000 people, only 2,300 had been found alive, He
Biao, the director of the prefecture's emergency office, told state
television.
In another south-western town, 80 per cent of homes had collapsed, along
with roads and bridges, and altogether in the county 60,000 people were
unaccounted for, he said.
"They could hear people under the debris calling for help, but no one
could, because there were no professional rescue teams," he said.
Among the missing are a coach party of 19 Britons in Wenchuan. The
county contains the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to the world's largest
collection of captive giant pandas.
The Britons were travelling from Chengdu to Wolong, according to Kuoni,
their tour operator, which was trying to contact them last night. The
Foreign Office was said to be preparing to send in a rapid response team
to look for them.
David and Diane Atkins, from Porchester, Hampshire, were part of the
panda-watching tour and have not been heard from since the earthquake
struck.
Their daughter, Lisa Staples, posted a note calling for information
about her parents on a news website.
“We are worried sick. We want to know if they are well, but have heard
nothing so far,” Mrs Staples told The Times. “The tour operator has not
been able to help and we are now waiting for the Foreign Office to tell
us what is going on. I cannot sleep, and just want to know that they are
okay.”
Another 100 British tourists in the region were reported to be safe,
while the Chinese authorities said they had no reports of foreign
casualties.
No major teams with equipment have been able to reach Wenchuan, as roads
through the mountainous passes are broken and blocked by landslides.
While rescuers struggled to help those trapped in the mountains, in the
plains to the south efforts were under way to pull any survivors from
the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The People's Liberation Army said 20,000 troops were working in the
affected region and 30,000 more were on their way. But, though
paratroops have been ordered to drop into Wenchuan, helicopter
operations are being hampered by heavy rain and fog across much of the area.
"What we most need is medicine," Mr He said. "There is no medicine,
there are no doctors and after such a long time, no food."
British agencies including Oxfam and Save the Children are helping with
the relief effort, sending expert teams to the region. David Miliband,
the Foreign Secretary, praised China's "exemplary" response to disaster,
in comparison to the "callous" response of the Burmese authorities.
Even if a majority of the missing are found safe and well, the number of
deaths is sure to escalate well beyond the 12,000 so far confirmed.
Elsewhere in Sichuan, more than 18,000 people are missing in Mianyang
city, while hundreds lie buried under rubble across the region and
hundreds were said to be dead in the neighbouring provinces of
Chongqing, Shaanxi and Gansu. Destroyed buildings include schools,
hospitals, and a chemical plant. The 86 pandas at Wolong Centre were
said to have escaped the earthquake.
The Olympic torch relay will be scaled back to mark the disaster,
organisers said.