China Sichuan Earthquake - Touching Stories & Photos

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China's death toll from a massive earthquake soared by several thousand Wednesday as rescue teams poured into the country's hardest-hit areas, state-run media reported.

The Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday that the death toll had risen to 14,866. An unofficial tally of deaths in individual communities -- as reported by the news agency over several days -- puts the toll at 19,565.

Xinhua also said nearly 26,000 people were still buried under debris and another 14,000 missing. More than 64,000 people sustained injuries.

The government sent 50,000 troops to dig for victims.

The Chinese government has responded quickly to Monday's massive earthquake, sending tens of thousands of troops to help rescue efforts and setting up round-the-clock medical stations.

Wen Jiabao, China's premier, was on an aircraft to the worst-hit area less than two hours after the quake hit.

A hard hat on his head and a bullhorn in hand, he ducked into the wreckage of a hospital where scores of people were buried and shouted: “Hang on a bit longer. The troops are rescuing you.” Throughout the day, the images of Mr. Wen directing disaster relief officials and comforting the injured dominated the airwaves.

“I think their response to this disaster shows they can act, and they can care,” he said. “They seem to be aware that a disaster like this can pull the country together and bring them support.” said Dali Yang, the director of the East Asian Institute in Singapore.

The Xinhua News Agency, the government’s leading propaganda organ, has offered an unusually vigorous stream of updates about casualties and problems confronting rescue teams.

Mr. Shi, the media studies professor, said he was surprised by the government’s candor and the vigor of the state-run Chinese press. He attributed some of the openness to a recent law that requires public officials to provide information to the news media during natural disasters. But like many experts, he said the Olympics were pushing China to experiment with a greater degree of openness.

“This is the first time the Chinese media has lived up to international standards,” he said, adding, “I think the government is learning some lessons from the past.”

Death toll in China quake nears 12,000

Warnings about a major earthquake taking place in China’s Sichuan province were, would you believe it, given by toads, two days before the tragedy.

On Saturday, local media reported that hundreds of thousands of toads appeared on the streets of Manzhu, a city about 60 km southeast of Wenchuan, the county worst hit by Monday’s earthquake.

A resident surnamed Liu was quoted by The China Daily as saying that he saw countless toads killed by passing vehicles as they crossed roads, and that he had never seen anything like it.

Unfortunately, no one had the presence of mind to understand why the toads were out on the streets. Experts have said animals can give advance notice of quakes, as they sense tremors before they happen.

Furthermore, a seismologist had warned more than five years ago that a strong earthquake was likely in Sichuan.

“Sichuan is virtually certain to experience an earthquake measuring above 7 in the next few years,” Chen Xuezhong, a senior researcher with the geophysics institute of State Seismological Bureau (SSB), wrote in a paper published in December 2002, in the periodical Recent Developments in World Seismology.

A day after the powerful 7.9 magnitude quake struck, state media said rescue workers had only just reached the epicenter in Wenchuan county — cut off by the disaster and where the number of casualties was unknown. China said it would welcome international aid but would not yet allow foreign relief workers into the affected area.

Heavy rain, which had contributed to the difficulty of reaching the epicenter, continued to impede efforts and a group of paratroopers called off a mission to the area, Xinhua said.

The death toll rose to 11,921, Wang said. At least 4,800 people remained buried in Mianzhu, 60 miles from the epicenter, Xinhua said, citing local authorities.

The casualty figures were expected to rise and remained uncertain due to the remote areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.

The earthquake caused a wide swath of damage across central China, leveling buildings and severing roads and communications. It sent people rushing out of their offices across the country in Beijing, and was felt as far away as Vietnam.

Nearly 10,000 people died in Sichuan province alone and 300 others in other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing, Xinhua reported.

As the death toll from a devastating earthquake in south-western China continues to climb, the disaster is proving a credibility test for the government, whose mandate is derived from maintaining stability and social order and providing for the welfare of people.

As China no longer regards the death toll in natural disasters as a state secret, pressure for a rapid response and complete transparency in the disclosure of information has built up. The disaster comes on the heels of a major human calamity in neighbouring Burma where rescue efforts and aid to millions of people struck by a cyclone have been impeded by the secrecy and opaque nature of the military junta. China is eager to set a different example.

While initially slow to release information about the full scale of devastation, the authorities and the state media quickly rebounded, gradually revising the death toll higher overnight as more details of the quake came to light. Gruelling details of some 900 students buried into the debris filtered into the news first, before the whole scope of destruction emerged.

China quake kills thousands in one county.

A powerful earthquake struck central China on Monday and state media reported that as many as 5,000 people were killed in a single county while nearly 900 students were trapped after their school collapsed.

Nearly 900 students in southwest China's Sichuan Province were feared buried when a high school building collapsed here in an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale on Monday afternoon.

At least four third-graders -- two boys and two girls -- were confirmed dead at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City, about 100 kilometers from the epicenter in Wenchuan County, parents and witnesses said.

Xinhua reporters saw a three-story school building had partially collapsed. Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 3,000 to 5,000 people had died in Beichuan county in Sichuan province after the 7.8-magnitude quake. Another 10,000 people there were believed to be hurt.

Desperate efforts are under way to find survivors.

The earthquake struck at 2:28 pm (0628 GMT) in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province, and could be felt in cities hundreds of kilometres away, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

The epicenter of the quake was located at 31.0 degrees north latitude and 103.4 degrees east longitude, the bureau said.

A statement issued by the local government in Aba prefecture, where the epicentre was located, said buildings had cracked and collapsed, and mountain roads were damaged.

The area has a population of about 110,000 residents, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Wen Jiaboa, China's prime minister, has announced that he will visit the affected areas. He has also ordered for troop deployment to carry out rescue and relief.