China earthquake: Rescuers struggle to help remote area

Willing hands pull a woman from the rubble in Baosheng Township, and hands reach out for relief supplies of food. Picture: Getty

Rescuers were struggling to reach a remote, rural corner of south-western China, as the toll of the dead and missing from the country’s worst earthquake in three years climbed to 208 with almost 1,000 serious injuries.

The 6.6 magnitude quake struck in Lushan county, near the city of Ya’an in the southwestern province of Sichuan, close to where a devastating 7.9 quake hit in May 2008, killing 70,000.

Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan, a short drive up the valley from Ya’an, but rescuers’ progress was hampered by the narrowness of the road and landslides, as well as government controls restricting access to avoid traffic jams.

“The Lushan county centre is getting back to normal, but the need is still considerable in terms of shelter and materials,” said Kevin Xia of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

“Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the way.”

In Ya’an, relief workers from across China expressed frustration with gaining access to Lushan and the villages beyond, up in the mountains.

“We’re in a hurry. There are people that need help and we have supplies in the back [of the car],” said one man from the Shandong Province earthquake emergency response team.

Many residents complained that although emergency teams were quick to carry away bodies and search for survivors, they had so far done little to distribute aid. “No water, no shelter,” read a hand-written sign held up by children on a roadside in Longmen.

“I was working in the field when I heard the explosions of the earthquake, and I turned around and saw my house simply flatten in front of me,” said Fu Qiuyue, a 70-year-old rapeseed farmer in Longmen.

The ministry of civil affairs put the number of dead at 184 and missing at 24, with more than 11,800 injured.

Hundreds of armed police were prevented from using roads that were wrecked by landslides and marched in single file with shovels en route to Baoxing, one of the hardest hit areas. Xinhua news agency said 18,000 troops were in the area.

The foreign ministry thanked foreign governments for offers of help, but said the country was able to cope.

In Lushan, doctors and nurses tended to people in the open or under tents in the grounds of the main hospital, surrounded by shattered glass, plaster and concrete. Water and electricity were cut off by the quake, but the spring weather is warm.

“I was scared. I’ve never seen an earthquake this big before,” said farmer Chen Tianxiong, 37, lying on a stretcher between tents, his family looking on.

In another tent, Zhou Lin sat tending to his wife and three-day-old son who were evacuated from a Lushan hospital soon after the quake struck on Saturday.

“I was worried the child or his mother would be hurt. The buildings were all shaking. I was extremely scared. But now I don’t feel afraid any more,” said Mr Zhou.

Premier Li Keqiang flew into the disaster zone by helicopter to comfort the injured and displaced, chatting to rescuers and clambering over rubble.

“Treat and heal your wounds with peace of mind,” news agency Xinhua quoted Mr Li as telling patients at a hospital. “The government will take care of all the costs for those severely wounded.” Already poor, many of the earthquake victims said the government was their only hope.

Cao Bangying, 36, whose family had set up mattresses and makeshift cots under a dump truck, said her house had been destroyed. Being without a home while having a child of this age is difficult,” Ms Cao said, cradling her nine-month-old baby. “We can only rely on the government to help us.”

Ya’an is a city of 1.5 million people and home to one of China’s main centres for protecting the giant panda.