China aftershock death toll rises
Pastor Dale Morgan
China aftershock death toll rises *
China quake toll tops 67,000: govt
The death toll from China's earthquake rose to 67,000 on Monday, with
another 25,000 missing, a government spokesman said. "As of noon on May
26, the earthquake has caused 65,080 deaths," Cabinet spokesman Guo
Weimin told a press conference. The new toll was up nearly 3,500 from
the figure of 62,664 given on Sunday. Guo also said 360,058 people had
been injured in China's worst earthquake in more than 30 years, which
struck the southwestern province of Sichuan on May 12. Another 14.38
million had been "transferred to temporary shelters," he added, while
not specifying whether those people had been left homeless or were
evacuated from quake-devastated areas. The government had said
previously that more than five million had been made homeless by the
quake. Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday had signalled fading hopes of
finding any more survivors, saying during a trip to the destroyed town
of Yingxiu that the death toll "may further climb to a level of 70,000,
80,000 or more."
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) May 26, 2008
The death toll from a strong aftershock in southwestern China rose to
eight on Monday, with another 927 people injured, the government said.
The deaths were spread widely across the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu,
Shaanxi and the large municipality of Chongqing, cabinet spokesman Guo
Weimin told a press conference in Beijing.
Sunday's aftershock was centred in quake-ravaged Sichuan and had a
magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale.
It was the strongest of thousands of aftershocks in the region since an
8.0-magnitude quake on May 12 which left more than 88,000 people dead or
missing.
State television had earlier reported one death in Sichuan's Guangyuan
city on Sunday, quoting a local disaster relief official.
Xinhua news agency said four deaths had occurred in the city of Hanzhong
in northwestern Shaanxi province.
One person was killed in the city of Longnan in northwest Gansu province
by stones falling from a mountain, Xinhua reported.
It was not immediately clear where the other two deaths noted by the
cabinet spokesman occurred.
The quake sent people fleeing from buildings across southwestern China
and was felt as far away as the capital Beijing.