China's quake death toll reaches 32,477
Posted: 18 May 2008 1736 hrs

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JIANGYOU, China: The confirmed death toll from China's earthquake rose on Sunday to 32,477, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing the government's disaster relief headquarters. It put the number of injured at 220,109.

The confirmed death toll rose by more than 3,500 from the day before. The government has estimated more than 50,000 people died from last Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake, China's worst natural disaster in a generation.

The latest news on the number of people killed comes as a powerful aftershock rattled China's southwest earlier in the day, hampering frantic efforts to find earthquake survivors and help nearly five million people facing the risk of disease and flood.

The 6.0-magnitude tremor shook some of the worst-affected parts in Sichuan province six days after China's worst natural disaster in a generation left an estimated 50,000 people dead.

"When the aftershock hit, mothers hugged their crying children and tried to comfort them, telling them everything would be okay," Dai Yong, who worked in the town of Jiangyou where the aftershock was reportedly strongest, told AFP.

The region has suffered at least 24 aftershocks of 5.0 or above on the Richter scale since last Monday's initial 7.9-magnitude quake, amid all-out efforts to rescue more than 10,000 people buried under rubble.

One survivor who miraculously suffered only slight bruises was pulled out on Sunday after 139 hours under the debris of a flattened hospital in the ravaged town of Beichuan, state media said.

At least 63 more people were rescued alive Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, defying experts' warnings that survival chances greatly diminish three days after an earthquake.

But not all the rescue stories have happy endings. A man pulled alive from the rubble after 129 hours – after his leg was amputated to free him – died in a hospital on Sunday of heart failure, state media said.

In a bid to help quake survivors, two US military planes packed with food, power generators and other goods flew into Sichuan province, the first aid that China has accepted from foreign armed forces.

President Hu Jintao, on a tour of Sichuan, offered thanks on Saturday for foreigners' help after the earthquake, which struck amid tensions between China and Western nations over Beijing's handling of unrest in Tibet.

Teams from Japan, Russia, Singapore and South Korea, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong, have been allowed in to help the effort, although other offers from elsewhere have been declined.

State television reported rescue crews in quake-ravaged regions had gone on heightened alert following the overnight aftershock

Xinhua said no deaths were reported from the aftershock.

Rain also compounded the misery for many of the estimated 4.8 million who have been left without homes.

Tens of thousands of suddenly homeless people huddled in appalling conditions in the quake-stricken town of Maoxian under leaky makeshift rain covers, badly needing food, medicine and proper shelter, the Sichuan New Online site said in a report from the town.

"Due to the rain in Maoxian, the people have gone from one disaster to another," it said, in a report that underlined China's huge humanitarian challenge.

Thousands of people were evacuated in Sichuan on Saturday over fears of floods due to a landslide that had blocked a river.

The World Health Organisation said on Saturday that the lack of safe drinking water or proper waste disposal along with cramped conditions in such camps was "conducive" to disease outbreaks.

Xinhua said, however, that nuclear facilities in the region had been checked for signs of any damage and "were confirmed safe and controllable".

Relief workers by Saturday had finally restored land connections with the worst-hit counties of Beichuan and Wenchuan, allowing the full horror of the quake to begin to emerge.

Luo Hong, a 22-year-old woman who sells beer, learned that her 55-year-old father, Luo Zaiping, was killed at the coal mine where he worked.

"He worked hard his entire life. He wasn't supposed to work on Monday and then this happened," she said. "Now, I want to help people who have survived even more."

The official People's Daily newspaper urged a nationwide "battle" against the disaster amid a rush by ordinary Chinese to volunteer.

"More than ever, people are aware that to win the battle against the devastating earthquake requires the contribution of the whole country," a Chinese newspaper said in a commentary.


- AFP/so