China stands still to mourn quake victims
WENCHUAN, China (AP) - May 19, 2008 Construction workers, shopkeepers and bureaucrats across the
bustling nation of 1.3 billion people paused for three minutes at
2:28 p.m. - exactly one week after the magnitude 7.9 quake hit
central China.
Air-raid sirens and the horns of cars and buses sounded in
memory of the dead.
In Beijing's Tiananmen Square, thousands of people bowed their
heads and then began shouting "Long Live China!" and thrusting
their fists in the air. Traffic on the capital's highways and roads
stopped, and some drivers got out of their cars.
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 34,073,
the State Council, China's Cabinet, said Monday. Another 9,500
remained buried in Sichuan and more than 29,000 were missing, the
provincial government said, according to Xinhua.
Officials have said they expect the final death toll to exceed
50,000, with more than 245,000 reported as injured. Quake-related
losses to companies totaled $9.5 billion, Deputy Industry Minister
Xi Guohua said.
In an indication of the challenge in dealing with millions of
homeless and injured survivors, China said it would accept foreign
medical teams and issued an international appeal for tents.
"China requests the international community donate tents as a
priority when they donate materials because many houses were
toppled in the quake and because it is the rainy season," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement, also thanking the
international community for its help so far.
In the disaster area, more than 200 relief workers were reported
buried over the past three days by mudslides while working to
repair roads in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.
An official confirmed mudslides had caused some deaths but gave
no details. "The total death toll is still being counted," said
the official at the Sichuan provincial Communications Department
who only gave his last name, Shi.
More potential landslides were predicted by the Central
Meteorological Observatory, with heavy rains forecast this week for
some areas close to the epicenter.
A magnitude 5.4 aftershock Monday afternoon damaged the only
road leading out of Qingchuan, a town near the epicenter, and
repairs were under way, Xinhua reported. There were no known
casualties from the tremor.
Meanwhile, 14 Taiwanese escaped a massive landslide in Sichuan.
They were located by authorities using satellite positioning data
from the group's tour bus on Friday, Chinese authorities said, and
were set to head home Monday.
The military was still struggling to reach areas cut off by the
earthquake, with more than 10,000 discovered stranded in Yinxiui
valley near the epicenter, China National Radio said Monday. There
was no information on casualties there, and 600 soldiers were
hiking into the area.
During three days of national mourning ordered by the
government, flags were to fly at half-staff and public
entertainment was canceled - an unprecedented outpouring of state
sympathy on a level normally reserved for dead leaders.
Rescuers also briefly halted work in the disaster zone, where
the hunt for survivors turned glum despite remarkable survival
tales among thousands buried. Two women were rescued Monday after
being trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building at a coal mine
in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.
A convoy of police cars, ambulances and other rescue vehicles
let off a long blast from their horns as the workers in orange
jumpsuits stood quietly with eyes downcast, some removing their
white hardhats.
"Our hearts are so heavy, so many of our compatriots are
dead," said rescuer Ma Tang Chuan. "As long as we try out best,
we have some small hope."
Volunteers at Wangfujing shopping street handed out white
ribbons reading, "lovingly remember," before hundreds of
shopkeepers spilled into the street. The period of silence started
early and ended up stretching past the three-minute mark, before it
was broken by a burst of sound from a construction site next door.
"It's the first time we've stopped," said Bai Zhenzong, a
worker at the site. "This is awful. This shows how importantly the
Chinese government is treating this."
Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top Communist Party
leaders were shown on state TV bowing their heads, white flowers
pinned to the lapels of their dark suits. Hu had spent three days
touring the worst-hit areas of Sichuan.
The moment of tribute also was marked in Hong Kong, where
double-decker buses sounded their horns. Rides and performances
were halted for three minutes at Hong Kong Disneyland, and the
daily fireworks show was canceled.
The government order for the mourning period said all Internet
entertainment and game sites had to be taken off-line and users
redirected to sites dedicated to commemorating earthquake victims,
the Chinese news Web portal sina.com said.
China's National Grand Theater will cancel or postpone all
performances during the three days, and media reports said numerous
bars, nightclubs, karaoke parlors and movie theaters had shut down
beginning at midnight in major cities such as Beijing, Shenyang and
Changsha.
Newspapers across China printed their logos in black and some
ran entirely without color. Several front pages were covered in
black, with simple messages in white text across the middle: "The
nation mourns," "Pray for life," and "National tragedy."
The mourning period begins as hope of finding more trapped
survivors dwindled, and preventing hunger and disease among the
homeless became more pressing.
Hu Yongcui, 38, said she did not care about the official show of
mourning as she headed to Beichuan, near the quake's epicenter, to
search for her missing 17-year-old daughter.
"I can't feel anything. I have no words," she said. "I just
want to go home. I just want to find my daughter."
At the epicenter in Wenchuan, life appeared to slowly return to
normal Monday with shops and a bank open. Residents carting luggage
waited in lines for buses to seek refuge elsewhere.
"What shall I do in the future?" asked Su Weiqun, 58, whose
husband was killed in the quake. "All the things we have after
years of hard work were all destroyed, including the house, the
property and the sheep."
In a sign the search for survivors was concluding, Japan said it
was considering withdrawing rescue crews to be replaced with an
expanded medical team to treat survivors because of declining
opportunities to use their technology to hunt for trapped victims.
"It's been a week since the earthquake and at this point
chances we can make use of our technology is very limited. It's
time to think about what to do with our rescue operation," Chief
Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters, according to
Japan's Kyodo News agency.
"There is definitely a need for medical experts, and we can
dispatch a team whenever there is a request," he said.
In Dujiangyan, three local government officials were removed
from their posts for dereliction of duty over the earthquake - the
first officials punished, Xinhua reported. One of the officials was
reprimanded for miscounting casualty figures, while the others were
punished for failing to come to work.
The Communist Party's discipline committee had instructed all
officials to "stand at the front line" of the disaster and vowed
to deal harshly with those who did not, the agency said.
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Associated Press writers Audra Ang in Beichuan, and Cara Anna,
Anita Chang and Henry Sanderson in Beijing contributed to this
report.