THE EARTHQUAKE: CHENGDU, China (AP)-- A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and chemical plants Monday in central China, killing more than 18,000 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the country's worst quake in three decades. The 7.9-magnitude quake struck in midafternoon, emptying office buildings in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam. Rescuers were frantically searching for more survivors, but rain was compounding the difficulty. The government was pouring in troops to aid in the disaster recovery. Xinhua News said 16,000 were in the area and 34,000 more were en route. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, the official Xinhua news agency said. Buried teenagers struggled to break free from the rubble, "while others were crying out for help," Xinhua said. Families waited in the rain near the wreckage as rescuers wrote the names of the dead on a blackboard, Xinhua said. In Chengdu, it crashed telephone networks and hours later left parts of the city of 10 million in darkness. "We can't get to sleep. We're afraid of the earthquake. We're afraid of all the shaking," said 52-year-old factory worker Huang Ju, who took her ailing, elderly mother out of the Jinjiang District People's Hospital. Worst affected were four counties including the quake's epicenter in Wenchuan. Wenchuan's Communist Party secretary appealed for air drops of tents, food and medicine. "We also need medical workers to save the injured people here," Xinhua quoted Wang Bin as telling other officials who reached him by phone. To the east, in Beichuan county, 80 percent of the buildings fell, and 10,000 people were injured, aside from 3,000 to 5,000 dead, Xinhua said. State media said two chemical plants collapsed, spilling more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia. Disasters always pose a test for the communist government, whose mandate rests heavily on maintaining order, delivering economic growth and providing relief in emergencies. "I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy," President Bush said in a statement. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said no aid requests had been made by China. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge sent his condolences to President Hu Jintao, adding: "The Olympic Movement is at your side, especially during these difficult moments. Our thoughts are with you."
THE CYCLONE: YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--
Police barred foreign aid workers from reaching cyclone survivors in hard-hit areas Tuesday, while emergency food shipments backed up at the main airport for Myanmar's biggest city. Checkpoints manned by armed police were set up and all international aid workers and journalists were turned back by officers who took down their names and passport numbers. Aid officials said there was not enough warehouse space to protect the supplies beginning to flow in after the regime agreed to accept foreign help. "We fear a second catastrophe (in Myanmar) unless we're able to put in place quickly a maximum of aid and a major logistical effort comparable with the response to the (2004) tsunami," said Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs. Myanmar's state television said the number of confirmed deaths from Cyclone Nargis had risen by 2,335, to 34,273, and the number of missing is at 27,838.
The United Nations estimates the actual death toll could be between 62,000 and 100,000. A longtime foreign resident told The Associated Press that angry government officials were complaining that high-energy biscuits rushed in on the World Food Program's first flights were sent to a military warehouse. Those supplies were exchanged for "tasteless and low-quality" biscuits. A spokesman for the military regime would not comment. The military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has taken control of most supplies sent in by other countries. The head of Myanmar's navy, Rear Adm. Soe Thein, told Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of the U.S. Pacific forces, that "skillful humanitarian workers are not necessary," according to state television. Survivors are jamming Buddhist monasteries or camping in the open. Drinking water has been contaminated by fecal matter, dead bodies and animal carcasses are floating around. Food and medicine are scarce.
@ the Associated Press
