China says up to 5,000 dead in one quake-hit county

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Maverick, May 13, 2008.

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Maverick Lord Vader

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Heavy snow in the winter and now heavy earthquake -shock
What is next?

China says up to 5,000 dead in one quake-hit county
By Guo Shipeng and Ian Ransom Mon May 12, 10:15 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - The most devastating earthquake to hit China in three decades has killed up to 5,000 people and left as many as 10,000 injured, toppling eight schools and at least one hospital, state media said.

An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County in mountainous Sichuan province after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region during the early afternoon on Monday, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local government.
As many as 10,000 in Beichuan were feared injured and 80 percent of the buildings there had been destroyed, the report said.
Beichuan's population is 161,000, meaning about one in 10 residents were killed or injured in the quake. The county is a part of Mianyang city, and about 160 km (100 miles) from the provincial capital, Chengdu.
Hundreds of people were buried under rubble in Shifang in Sichuan as several schools, factories and dormitories collapsed during the quake, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The death toll was expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams made contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan, where phone lines have been cut off since the quake struck.
The quake is the worst to hit China in 32 years since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in northeastern China where up to 300,000 died.
Monday's quake hit in the middle of the school day, toppling at least eight schools, leaving hundreds of students and teachers trapped, state media said.
About 900 teenagers were buried in the rubble of a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan.
Local villagers had already helped dozens of students out of the ruins and five cranes were excavating at the site as anxious parents looked on, Xinhua said.
STUDENTS CRY OUT FOR HELP
"Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help," the agency said.
A hospital in the same city also collapsed, the official Xinhua news agency said on its website, quoting a witness.
Another seven schools had been felled by the quake, state media reported.
Five children were confirmed dead and 120 injured after buildings at two primary schools in rural parts of Chongqing municipality collapsed. Nineteen students and teachers were still buried, Xinhua said.
Chongqing, a municipality of 30 million people, neighbors Sichuan.
The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website (http://earthquake.usgs.gov) the main quake struck at 0628 GMT at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).

At least 45 had died in the provincial capital, Chengdu, Xinhua said, citing an official with the local seismological bureau. Another 600 people were injured, 58 of them critically, in the sprawling city of 10 million.
State television showed footage of Chengdu residents, where the airport and railway station were closed, crowded in the streets looking relatively unscathed.
The quake's epicenter was in nearby Wenchuan, a mountainous county of about 100,000 people, but its force was enough to cause buildings to sway across China and as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok.
Ten people were killed and 14 seriously in Sichuan's neighboring province of Gansu, and a five-year-old girl was killed after falling into a pond in Yunnan province to the south, where some 3,000 houses were damaged.
Buildings were toppled in at least six counties near the epicenter, Xinhua said.
In Beijing and Shanghai, office workers poured into the streets as the tremor hit. In the capital, which will host the summer Olympics in August, there was no visible damage and the showpiece Bird's Nest stadium was unscathed, the project's engineer told Xinhua.
But in Sichuan, phone lines in Wenchuan were down and a website for the region's Aba prefecture said the quake had cut several major highways and communications were down in 11 counties.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Chengdu and President Hu Jintao ordered an "all-out" rescue effort, Xinhua reported. Thousands of army troops and paramilitary People's Armed Police carrying medical supplies were also headed to the region, state television said. But a landslide had blocked a mountain road leading to Wenchuan, preventing troops from reaching the scene, state radio said.
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#1 Maverick, May 13, 2008
Akki ...

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I saw this on the news yesterday! Crazy quake! i hope everything will smooth over soon and hopefully the projected numbers are incorrect!

#2 Akki, May 13, 2008
Resentless MIA

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wtf 5000 :S thats.. alot :(

#3 Resentless, May 13, 2008
Burb3rry Member

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:(..
My parents and my sisters are in Macau, thank God she wasn't at Beijing.

#4 Burb3rry, May 13, 2008
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ive just heared the death count has increased to 12000 :S is that true?

#5 Resentless, May 13, 2008
mr_evolution ( • )( •ԅ(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)

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^Yeah, more to come as many are buried underneath

#6 mr_evolution, May 13, 2008
Maverick Lord Vader

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UPDATE: Number of death is 12000!!!

#7 Maverick, May 13, 2008
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and still growing :(

#8 Resentless, May 13, 2008
Maverick Lord Vader

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Yep, still growing.

#9 Maverick, May 13, 2008
ChilliChidori Well-Known Member

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Oh man, here in Germany the news says there are about 20,000 dead people...

#10 ChilliChidori, May 13, 2008
bbes Incredible

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i've got a strange feeling there are two threads on this topic.

#11 bbes, May 13, 2008
dim8sum ♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪....

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not a good time for the world, first Burma and now this....

#12 dim8sum, May 13, 2008
ProjectD VIP yay :]

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i heard about this this morning... the deaths keep rising omg

#13 ProjectD, May 13, 2008
AsianInvasion Well-Known Member

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Man. I hope everyone will be alright =\

#14 AsianInvasion, May 13, 2008
mr_evolution ( • )( •ԅ(ˆ⌣ˆԅ)

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There's still like 20k trapped underneath

#15 mr_evolution, May 14, 2008
BigM Well-Known Member

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And as each precious second passes, we are losing them..

Pray and Hope there are many cases of Stuart Diver recurring

#16 BigM, May 14, 2008
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almost no hope anymore to find any survivors :( as since the beginning they arent finding alot of survivors

#17 Resentless, May 14, 2008
Maverick Lord Vader

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The news said that a village is almost wiped out by the earthquake.
The new number of deaths estimate is now 15.000 people.

#18 Maverick, May 14, 2008
Aznmask Well-Known Member

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if this earthquake happen in night time.. then it probably have more death troll.

#19 Aznmask, May 15, 2008
shinobi PA ='(

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not a good year for china so far.. they first got hit with heavy snow and now an earthquake....my prayers and condolences to the victims familys.

#20 shinobi, May 15, 2008

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