Severe weather has slowed the Chinese rescue missions for the earthquake victims but from the media accounts, you have to be impressed with the all out attempts to send in aid. Compare this to neighboring Myanmar or even Bush after Katrina. Between the devastation and the weather it may be days before we know how many people may have perished.
A massive rescue operation yesterday struggled with heavy rain and aftershocks in the search for tens of thousands of people who remained missing following the devastating earthquake which struck central China on Monday.
As President Wen Jiabao toured the disaster area to oversee rescue efforts, the authorities said the death toll had reached 12,000 people in Sichuan Province alone. In some towns, there were more people missing buried under collapsed homes, hospitals and schools than found alive, raising fears that the death toll could soon rise dramatically.
In Mianyang 60 miles east of the epicentrre, 18,645 people remained buried under debris and survivors spent a second night sleeping outside in the rain, some under striped plastic sheeting strung between trees. The government ordered them not to return home, citing safety concerns, and posted security guards outside apartment complexes to keep people out. At least 4,800 people remained buried in Mianzhu, local authorities said.
