Schoolbooks strewn in China quake rubble as children perish

Chinese premier Wen arrives in quake zone
Beijing (AFP) April 15, 2010 - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Thursday travelled to a remote corner of China's northwest hit by a devastating earthquake that had so far killed over 600 people, state media reported. Wen arrived in the Yushu prefecture of Qinghai province, China National Radio reported, a day after the 6.9-magnitude quake struck, leaving thousands also injured and without shelter.

Makeshift surgery in China quake zone
Qingshuihe, China (AFP) April 15, 2010 - Tsering Dorje didn't have the luxury of going to hospital to have his right arm amputated. Instead a doctor performed the operation in a tent hastily erected after China's deadly quake. "Most of the hospitals had collapsed and others had become dangerous," Karma Sherab, who performed the hour-long procedure, told the official Xinhua agency. "The only thing we can do is to clean the wounds in a simple way or simply amputate instead of curing." Dorje's wife tearfully explained how her 55-year-old husband was trapped when the building he was in collapsed after Wednesday's 6.9-magnitude quake struck. His son held his hand, and said he feared his father would die.

While doctors worked in the makeshift hospitals, rescuers using shovels, iron bars and their bare hands frantically clawed their way through huge piles of rubble and jagged concrete slabs hunting for survivors. The high altitude of the remote mountainous area of northwestern Qinghai province where the quake struck was hindering rescuers and many survivors were forced to spend the night sleeping out in the open in freezing temperatures. "Thank you! Thank you! I will never forget it!" shouted a teenage girl as she was delicately pulled from the rubble of a police building in the pre-dawn hours, in footage broadcast by China Central Television. Another young woman moaned in pain as she was extracted from the remains of a building toppled by the force of the quake, which left scenes of devastation after reducing thousands of mud-and-wood homes to piles of rubble. Entire villages were laid waste by the quake, which killed more than 600 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Much of the search was being done by hand because of the lack of digging equipment. In areas where heavy equipment had got through, excavators clawed through the rubble as survivors and rescuers looked on. Survivors sought shelter in the few buildings still standing in the devastated town of Jiegu, some grabbing quilts from the rubble and using the headlights of motorbikes to see, state media reports said. One resident described how neighbours had dug her out of the rubble. Her mother was not so lucky. "It was all so sudden, I had no time to react," the woman, identified as Lungme was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency. "Eight people in one of my neighbour's family were all buried. They were all dead when they were found," she added.

Tezin Drolma recounted how she had to drag her two-year-old son out of the house when the quake hit, with no time to put any clothes on him. Another mother said she showed her daughter's bloodied face to a doctor and asked him for help, but he could only show her his empty medical bag, Xinhua said. "We lack everything. We lack medical alcohol, needles and anaesthetic," explained Karma, the doctor working in the makeshift hospital. Most of those requiring treatment were Tibetans who eke out a meagre living in the rugged area as farmers and herdsmen. Officials had set up camps in the area at an outdoor sports field and racing track in Jiegu to accommodate the thousands of homeless, CCTV said. At one camp, Tibetan Buddhist monks in their maroon and saffron robes were seen milling about under towering foothills.

by Staff Writers
Qingshuihe, China (AFP) April 15, 2010
Schoolbooks lay scattered among debris as anxious parents Thursday watched rescuers scramble to reach scores of children killed or trapped by the quake that struck northwest China.

In a grim parallel with the 2008 Sichuan quake that left thousands dead in collapsed schools, at least 66 students were killed when buildings were toppled in Wednesday's quake, Xinhua news agency said.

Rescuers in the huge northwestern province of Qinghai, where the magnitude 6.9 quake struck early Wednesday, continued to sift through the debris of at least 11 schools that were toppled, Chinese media reports said.

So far, 617 people have died in the quake, and more than 9,000 were injured.

State television broadcast images of rescuers and diggers scratching at mounds of rubble to try and get to the students. One report said teachers had taken part in the desperate rescue attempts.

Wang Yubo, education chief of Qinghai province, was quoted by Xinhua as saying dozens more students were believed trapped in the rubble.

Another report said that at Yushu county's primary school number three, 200 might be buried, although this was denied by a spokeswoman for the education ministry, Xu Mei, who said the real number was low.

The schools issue is extremely sensitive in China as thousands of children died in May 2008 in the huge Sichuan quake when schools collapsed.

Angry parents levelled corruption allegations at local officials, saying corners were cut on safety and construction quality. Many Sichuan schools collapsed while neighbouring structures stood firm.

On Thursday a government civil defence official, Zou Ming, said that following the Sichuan quake authorities had reinforced public buildings including primary and middle schools and residential buildings, Xinhua reported.

But anger filled Chinese Internet groups, with many Web users alleging corruption was killing students.

"You officials in disaster zones, when you see such dire straits, will you shed a tear of shame or remorse for these murdered students? Who will take responsibility for these low-quality, collapsed buildings," read one entry on the popular website netease.com.

Chen Xinmei, who works for an educational organisation affiliated to some schools in the quake region, said parents were quietly gathering the corpses of their dead children from stricken schools.

"Parents know this is an act of god so there have been no unusual actions when they have gone to claim the bodies of students," Chen told AFP by phone from Jiegu.

She said at some schools that collapsed she saw up to 10 bodies of students that had not been claimed by parents, apparently because they were mangled beyond recognition.

Xinhua said dozens of desperate parents stood by Thursday as rescuers picked through the rubble of a collapsed girls' dormitory at the Yushu Vocational School, one of the hardest hit in Wednesday's quake.

The principal of Yushu County's Number 3 Primary School in Jiegu said 34 children there had died and more than 200 others were still buried in the rubble, the state-run Beijing Times said, although this was later denied by the education ministry.

Nima Jiangcai said many of the surviving pupils had taken refuge in the playground, and the injured were suffering from the region's cold temperatures.

"Those children who are injured cannot get treatment at the moment, our prefecture does not have the necessary medical conditions to treat and cure," he was quoted as saying.

Teachers at the 3,000-strong school had used their bare hands to dig out the students, the report said.

At the Yushu Vocational School in Jiegu, 22 students were believed to have died, according to Xinhua.

The reports and various school death tolls could not be immediately verified by AFP due to the region's remoteness and communication problems caused by the quake.

A local education official was quoted saying 50 percent of tall school buildings in Yushu had collapsed, and all single-storey buildings had been levelled. The prefecture has around 40 schools.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS
Solar Energy Solutions
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ...

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Rainy season to spark 'minor disasters' for Haiti: ICRC
Geneva (AFP) April 13, 2010
The international Red Cross warned Tuesday that a rainy season peaking in mid-May would spark "minor disasters" in Haiti, where 1.3 million people remain homeless after January's deadly quake. "There is certain to be ... a long series of minor disasters caused by the rainy season throughout the quake zone in the improvised settlements which we'll have to do our utmost to mitigate," said Alex ... read more

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement