Quake kills 400; destroys homes on Tibet plateau

[streetcry]

Hu reaches out to quake victims

JIEGU (China) - CHINESE President Hu Jintao called on rescuers on Sunday to keep searching for survivors as he visited victims of a powerful quake in the country's northwest that left more than 1,700 dead.

The Chinese leader promised new homes and schools as he reached out to victims on a visit to the region hit four days ago by a 6.9-magnitude quake that killed 1,706 people and left 256 missing.

In a departure from his usually formal style, President Hu stood amid the rubble in Jiegu, the largest city affected by the quake, and urged rescuers to keep going. 'We will do our best to rescue people still trapped. If there is even one chance (of finding someone), we will make an all-out effort,' he said in scenes broadcast on television.

At another stop, President Hu told a crowd through a megaphone the government would provide essentials such as food, drinking water, shelter, quilts and warm clothing. 'The earthquake is merciless but human beings have compassion,' President Hu told the crowd, adopting a warmth more usually associated with Premier Wen Jiabao.

In a makeshift hospital, President Hu put an arm around a bed-ridden young woman wearing a sling. 'Grandpa Hu will think of you,' he said, patting her shoulder as she wept. 'There will be new schools! There will be new homes!' he wrote in chalk on a blackboard while visiting orphans in a tent turned into a classroom, Xinhua reported.

'I assure you that the Party and the government will definitely help quake victims rebuild homes and resume classes for children as soon as possible,' he told a local Tibetan. More than 100 students and 12 teachers died as schools and dormitories collapsed and dozens more people remain missing, state media reported. -- AFP

 

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A Tibetan woman looks out from the tents set up for quake victims in earthquake-hit Yushu county, northwest China's Qinghai province, Monday, April 19, 2010.

A Tibetan family makes a meal outside their tents set up for quake victims in earthquake-hit Yushu county, northwest China's Qinghai province, Monday, April 19, 2010​

 

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Soldiers (L) have a briefing on the side of the road as a convoy of military trucks bringing quake relief goods makes its way along a highway on the roof of the world south of the Bayankela Pass at 4,824 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau on April 19, 2010 headed the quake zone of Jiegu in the remote region of northwest China's Qinghai province that was hit by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on April 14. Chinese President Hu Jintao called on rescuers to keep searching for survivors as he visited victims of a powerful quake on April 18 that has left more than 1,700 dead.​

 

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Tibetan Buddhist monks distribute relieves goods from a truck amid the earthquake devastation in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.​

 

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Tibetan Buddhist monks load relieve goods from a truck amid the earthquake devastation in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.

Survivors collect clothes in front of an earthquake damaged shop in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.​

 

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Tibetan Buddhist nuns light butter lamps for earthquake victims inside a tent in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.

A Tibetan Buddhist nun lights a butter lamp for earthquake victims in a tent in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.​

 

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Tibetan relatives place stones on a tomb after burying an earthquake victim on a hillside in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.​

 

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Children huddle together as they take shelter from strong winds in the quake-hit Jiegu town in Yushu county in northwest China's Qinghai province on Monday April 19, 2010.

Tibetan monks walk amid sandstorms as they attend a mass prayer for the earthquake victims in the quake-hit Gyegu town of Yushu county, Qinghai province April 19, 2010. The official death toll from an earthquake on China's remote Tibetan plateau has climbed to 2,039, state media said on Tuesday. Picture taken April 19, 2010.

Tibetans attend a mass prayer for the earthquake victims in the quake-hit Gyegu town of Yushu county, Qinghai province April 19, 2010.​

 

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Injured people from the quake-affected Yushu receive medical treatment at Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital on April 19, 2010 in Chengdu, Sichuan province of China.

Injured people from the quake-affected Yushu receive medical treatment at Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital on April 19, 2010 in Chengdu, Sichuan province of China.

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Yaks and sheep graze on grasslands outside of Gonge in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau on April 19, 2010 in northwest China's Qinghai province. Also called the 'roof of the world', the high-altitude plateau in Central Asia which covers most of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province and Ladakh in Kashmir, India is the world's highest and biggest plateau with an average elevation of 4,500 meters. Yaks, a long-haired bovine with a physiology well adapted to high altitudes with larger lungs and heart than lower-altitude cattle giving them a greater capacity for transporting oxygen through their blood, range across the Himalayas of South Central Asia, the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and as far north as Mongolia.​

 

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A medical staff (L) disinfects the debris of a collapsed monastery in earthquake-hit Yushu County, Qinghai province April 19, 2010.

A medical staff disinfects religious figurines at a destroyed monastery in earthquake-hit Yushu County, Qinghai province April 19, 2010.​

 

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A portrait of the Dalai Lama is seen near people living temporary shelter, in the quake ravaged Yushu county, in northwest China's Qinghai province, Monday, April 19, 2010. The exiled spiritual leader on Saturday said he would like to visit the quake site, though he has not returned to China since he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. China is unlikely to allow a visit.​

 

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China to mourn quake dead as toll passes 2,000 20 Apr 2010 02:32:38 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with national day of mourning)

BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) - China will hold a national day of mourning for victims of an earthquake in the country's western region, the government announced on Tuesday, as the official death toll from the disaster climbed to 2,039.

Another 195 people are still listed as missing following the quake, which struck Yushu county, a heavily Tibetan area in the province of Qinghai last Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The nation will pause to mourn the victims on Wednesday, a week after the quake hit, with national flags at half-mast and public entertainment curtailed, the Chinese cabinet decided, according to the central government website (www.gov.cn).

Despite dwindling hopes, rescuers continued searching for survivors in the flattened town of Gyegu, the county seat of Yushu with some 90,000 inhabitants, spurred by the discovery of three survivors the previous day.

An elderly Tibetan woman and her granddaughter were pulled out alive, and a woman in her 30s was rescued after being trapped for 130 hours, state media reported. (Reporting by Simon Rabinovitch and Chris Buckley; editing by Ken Wills and Sugita Katyal)

Four-year-old girl Cairen Baji is carried by a rescue worker after they dug her and an elderly woman out from a collapsed m&d house near Jiegu town in earthquake-hit Yushu county in west China's Qinghai province on Monday, April 19, 2010. Relatives kept Wujian Cuomao, 68, and Cairen Baji alive for five days by sending them food and water through gaps in the rubble with the help of bamboo poles, state broadcaster CCTV said. (AP Photo)**​

 

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This view shows the earthquake-hit township of Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.​

 

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A man charges his mobile phone in front of a tented service area for earthquake survivors in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 19, 2010.​

 

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Religious figurines excavated from a destroyed temple are seen in the earthquake-hit Gyegu town in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 19, 2010.

Paramilitary police carry a religious figurine excavated from a destroyed temple in the earthquake-hit Gyegu town in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 19, 2010.

Paramilitary police stand next to religious figurines excavated from a destroyed temple in the earthquake-hit Gyegu town in Yushu County, Qinghai province April 19, 2010.​

 

[streetcry]

China to mourn quake dead, public entertainment to be suspended

BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese flag will be lowered to half-mast around the country and at embassies and consulates abroad Wednesday in a show of respect for those killed in the April 14 earthquake in Qinghai Province, the State Council ordered Tuesday.

Public entertainment would also be suspended Wednesday, the State Council, China's cabinet, said in an announcement.

Following the announcement, the Ministry of Culture issued an urgent circular, ordering administrative departments to strengthen supervision of entertainment venues and to punish those violating the rule.

Besides entertainment venues such as cinemas, theaters, karaoke bars, dance clubs and Internet cafes, website groups should also suspend all online services of music, games, comics, films and TV shows.

A 7.1-magnitude quake struck Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in southern Qinghai on April 14. It has left at least 2,064 people dead, 175 missing, and 12,135 injured by Tuesday.

 

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Health workers disinfect at a collapsed temple where soliders rescue many golden buddhas, on April 20, 2010 in Yushu, Qinghai Province of China​

 

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A rescuer watches over Buddha statues salvaged from a destroyed Tibetan monastery in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 20, 2010.

Buddha statues are wrapped up after they were salvaged from a destroyed Tibetan monastery in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 20, 2010.​

 

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This picture shows the remains of a destroyed Tibetan monastery (bottom) in Jiegu, Yushu county, in China's northwestern province of Qinghai on April 20, 2010. China declared a national day of mourning for victims of last week's earthquake as rescuers battled altitude sickness and bad weather conditions in the Tibetan disaster zone.​