China mourns its dead a week after quake
Posted: 19 May 2008 0856 hrs

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DUJIANGYAN, China - China on Monday lowered flags to half-mast, suspended its Olympic torch relay and curbed entertainment as the nation began three days of mourning for its worst earthquake in a generation.

In solemn scenes broadcast on state television, Chinese soldiers performed the daily raising of the national flag at Beijing's imposing Tiananmen Square, then lowered it to half-mast in memory of the estimated 50,000 quake dead.

The official grieving came amid forecasts that rain would drench quake-hit southwestern Sichuan province, compounding the misery and heightening the risk of disease for the nearly five million people left homeless.

The five-star red flag was also at half-staff in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong and at Chinese embassies overseas, according to state media.

China will hold three minutes of silence at 2:28 pm (0628 GMT), the exact moment a week ago that the powerful tremor -- upgraded to 8.0 on the Richter scale -- reduced entire towns to heaps of steel and concrete.

The tragedy has triggered an outpouring of emotion in the rapidly developing country, with thousands offering to volunteer or taking to the Internet to send condolences or to offer to care for orphans.

The official China News Service said the mourning was unprecedented for a national disaster in the world's most populous country.

"Faced with the mounting death toll, Chinese society has been calling for a period of mourning," it said in a commentary. "The State Council's decision reflects the will of the people and international practices."

Even the relay of the Beijing Olympic torch -- which has elicited strong excitement across China in the run-up to the Games in August -- was called off for three days as a mark of respect.

Trading will be suspended on China's main stock exchanges for the three minutes of silence. Air sirens will sound nationwide as the "horns of cars, trains and ships will wail in grief," the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The government pulled entertainment programmes off television for three days. In normally bustling Shanghai, authorities ordered cinemas, karaoke bars and other leisure establishments to cease operations.

Most national newspapers switched to black and white, at least on their front pages.

The Beijing Times' front page was taken up by a photo of a candle and the number 32,476 -- the confirmed death toll as of Sunday.

That death toll looked certain to rise higher, with 9,500 people still unaccounted for under the rubble in Sichuan province.

Miraculously, rescuers on Sunday dug up two more survivors after they were buried under the rubble for up to 148 hours.

However, hope of finding more is fading fast. Experts say the chances of survival greatly diminish three days after an earthquake.

Heavy rain was also expected later this week in the disaster zone, making relief work even more arduous and putting at risk the 4.8 million people who have been left without homes.

Margaret Chan, the head of the World Health Organisation, said authorities needed to be ready to dispatch health workers at short notice on any sign of disease outbreak.

"Continuing surveillance is extremely important," Chan told Xinhua.

Shi Yingkang, director of the biggest hospital in the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, said the quake zone had a serious shortage of psychologists necessary to help quake victims handle the mental trauma.

"Some patients have mental problems now," Shi, head of the Huaxi hospital, told AFP. "Some victims want to commit suicide because their family members were lost."

With roads only reopened over the weekend, some families were only now finding out news about their loved ones.

A group of 62 elderly Chinese tourists who were touring Sichuan -- a scenic, mountainous province famous for its giant pandas and bamboo -- made it back to the capital Chengdu late Sunday.

"It wasn't until Saturday that I knew my mother was alive," said 38-year-old Lu Yunhong, as he welcomed his mother after her two-day bus ride.

"I just can't describe how happy I am." - AFP/ir