Fear of new quakes prompt panic in China
Pastor Dale Morgan
Fear of new quakes prompt panic in China*
20 May 2008 00:58:39 GMT
Source: Reuters
* 5.0 aftershock hits 150 km from Chengdu overnight
By Lucy Hornby
CHENGDU, China, May 20 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of panicked
residents rushed into the streets of Chengdu in southwest China
overnight, alarmed by a television report that predicted another
powerful earthquake would hit the region.
Sichuan province called for calm as a fresh aftershock and rain
forecasts compounded the difficulty for military, government and private
workers trying to ensure food and housing for millions of homeless.
Residents of Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, rushed out for open space
before midnight on Monday, alarmed by the prediction that an earthquake
would hit the region after last Monday's 7.9 magnitude tremor which may
have killed 50,000 people.
A few hours later, a 5-magnitude aftershock rattled windows in Chengdu
and likely caused more landslides on the roads leading to Pingwu, the
epicentre of the aftershock, where destroyed roads have hampered relief
efforts.
Provincial television broadcast interviews with a series seismologic
bureau officials to explain the prediction and calm a jangled populace.
"Just because you can feel aftershocks, it doesn't mean they will hurt
you. Of course, that doesn't mean you should stand in harm's way," said
Han Weiding, researcher with the local seismological bureau.
The pandemonium showed how nerves have been stretched to the breaking
point by the May 12 earthquake and aftershocks which have officially
killed more than 34,000 people and injured 245,000.
Cars jammed roads leading out of Chengdu on Tuesday. There was no report
of damage to Pingwu, but Xinhua news agency said on Monday that 200
rescue workers had been buried in landslides since May 12.
The road to Pingwu from the Sichuan plain was still closed to heavy
trucks on Monday, complicating efforts to get food, water and tents to
tens of thousands of homeless living in inaccessible areas.
The number of dead from the May 12 quake, the worst to hit China since
1976, is expected rise dramatically. The Communist Party chief in
Sichuan said on Monday nearly 30,000 people were missing and a further
5,000 were believed buried under rubble.
Rescuers had reached the remotest areas of the province by Monday, but
roads to some 50 affected towns and villages were still blocked by rocks
and mudslides.
Whole towns are flattened rubble in mountainous areas north and west of
Chengdu, and about 4.8 million people are homeless. Housing and feeding
during the long-term rebuilding effort will prove an ongoing challenge.
Sirens wailed and horns honked across China, from tent cities in Sichuan
province to Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and millions of Chinese stood
for three minutes on Monday to mourn the dead exactly a week after the
quake struck.
Foreign "entertainment" channels have been taken off the air out of respect.
MORE SURVIVORS
There was a burst of elation in ruined Beichuan when a 61-year-old woman
was found alive under a mass of concrete. A man trapped in a manganese
mine in Qingchuan was also pulled out alive on Monday -- just before the
pit collapsed, Xinhua said.
But rescuers mostly have the gruesome job of recovering decomposing
bodies. Dozens of bodies were pulled from the rubble in Beichuan on
Monday, and rescuers scattered lime and splashed disinfectant to prevent
disease.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry appealed to the international community
to provide more tents for about 4.8 million people who lost their homes
in the quake. And the central bank reiterated calls to set up branches
and lend to companies in ruined areas.
So far, 10.8 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) has been received from donors
at home and abroad, China said.
($1=6.990 Yuan) (Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani)