Sichuan quake

I'm supposed to be in Sichuan and Yunnan right now, but by the grace of God, there were change of plans, and i'm home safe and sound.

Death toll from China quake soars past 13,000
* Tens of thousands unaccounted for
* First deaths confirmed in epicentre Wenchuan
* More than 18,000 buried in city of Mianyang, Sichuan
* Confirmed deaths in Mianzhu, Sichuan, rise to 3,000

DUJIANGYAN (China) - THE death toll in China's earthquake climbed past 13,000 on Tuesday and looked likely to rise much higher after media said some 19,000 people were buried in rubble in just one area.

Rain and severed roads hampered rescuers in the mountainous area near the epicentre of Monday's 7.9-magnitude quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan, China's worst earthquake in over three decades.
State media reported devastation as troops reached stricken villages near the epicentre in Wenchuan, a remote county cut off by landslides about 100km northwest of the provincial capital, Chengdu.

Officials announced late on Tuesday that 500 Wenchuan residents were confirmed dead, the Xinhua news agency reported.

But the toll there and elsewhere is likely to soar.

Search continues

Thirty People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops arrived at Wenchuan's Yingxiu township and rescued 300 residents, Xinhua said. But only 2,000 were found alive in the town of 12,000, according to a local official.

'They could hear people under the debris calling for help but no one could, because there were no professional rescue teams,' state television quoted the official He Biao as saying.

About 60,000 people were unaccounted for across Wenchuan.
'What we most need is medicine. There is no medicine, there are no doctors and after such a long time, no food,' He said.

Attempts to find survivors have become a race against time and bad weather. Premier Wen Jiabao, who has thrown himself into the task of running these efforts, told officials not to slacken.

'The disaster situation is worse than expected, and the rescue sites are quite complex,' Mr Wen said, according to Xinhua.

He ordered 3,000 medical staff to travel to Sichuan.

Toll likely to rise

But official reports have presented a grim litany of rising death, suggesting that crumpled homes, schools and factories will yield many more bodies than survivors.

In Mianzhu, Sichuan, rescuers said the death toll had risen to 3,000. About 500 people were pulled out alive from crushed buildings. An earlier report said 10,000 people there had been buried under rubble.

A further 18,645 people were buried under debris in Mianyang, a city that also covers much farmland, Xinhua said.

In hard-hit Beichuan County in Mianyang, at least 1,000 students and teachers were buried under a seven-storey school building, and rows of apartment buildings in the town collapsed.

Locals told Xinhua that up to 8,000 residents may have died.

'People escaped from the buildings but were only devoured by the landslides,' one survivor, Lei Xiaoying, told Xinhua. 'There was no way to escape.' Over 320 deaths from the quake have so far been confirmed in provinces apart from Sichuan.

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The following is a detailed list of casualties reported from different regions of China, based on the latest government statistics.

1. SICHUAN PROVINCE - The death toll has reached 12,012. Another 26,206 people were injured and 9,404 buried in debris. Some 7,841 people are missing.
Wenchuan County: At least 500 people confirmed dead at the quake epicentre.
Mianyang City: 7,395 dead. (Up to 5,000 dead and 80 per cent of buildings collapsed in Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County)
Mianzhu City: 3,000 killed and more than 10,000 injured.
Chengdu City: 959 dead.
Qingchuan County: At least 1,000 killed, 5,000 injured and 300 buried in the rubble; 80 per cent of buildings collapsed. At the Muyu Township Middle School, 94 students killed, 120 injured and 191 missing.

2. GANSU PROVINCE - 206 killed, 2,179 injured and 21,100 evacuated.
Longnan City: 173 killed and 2,027 injured.

3. SHAANXI PROVINCE - 103 killed, 893 injured and 9 million evacuated.

4. CHONGQING MUNICIPALITY - 11 killed, including five pupils, and more than 2.13 million people affected.

5. YUNNAN PROVINCE - One confirmed dead.

6. HENAN PROVINCE - One confirmed dead.

7. HUBEI PROVINCE - One confirmed dead.

Information taken from http://www.straitstimes.com