China: Up To 5,000 Killed In Massive Quake

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Mon May-12-08 08:50 AM
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China: Up To 5,000 Killed In Massive Quake

Edited on Mon May-12-08 08:51 AM by Breeze54

China: Up To 5,000 Killed In Massive Quake

http://wbztv.com/national/earthquake.central.china.2.721576.html

May 12, 2008 9:37 am US/Eastern

CBS News Interactive: About Earthquakes

BEIJING (CBS) ―

Chinese state media say 3,000 to 5,000 people have died in one county in Sichuan province alone from a massive earthquake.

Rescuers search the rubble of the collapsed Juyuan middle school
where six children died in Dujiangyan, in southwest China Sichuan
province on May 12, 2008 after an earthquake measuring 7.8 rocked
the province. AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Chinese shoppers and office workers rush out on to the streets
in Chengdu city center, in southwest China's Sichuan province
on May 12, 2008 after they felt a tremor of an earthquake
measuring 7.8 rocked the province. AFP/AFP/Getty Images

The official Xinhua News Agency said Monday that another 10,000 people were believed hurt in Beichuan county after the 7.8-magnitude quake. Nearly 900 students were trapped after their school collapsed about 60 miles from the epicenter. Photos showed heavy cranes trying to remove rubble from the ruined school. The earthquake struck in the middle of the afternoon when classes and office towers were full. The airport in the provincial capital, Chengdu, was closed and roads were clogged with traffic after the earthquake, state television reported. Rain was also predicted for the disaster area.

The quake struck 57 miles northwest of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT), the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. Calls into the city did not go through as panicked residents quickly overloaded the telephone system.

"In Chengdu, mobile telecommunication convertors have experienced jams and thousands of servers were out of service," said Sha Yuejia, deputy chief executive officer of China Mobile. Although it was difficult to telephone Chengdu, an Israeli student, Ronen Medzini, sent a text message to The Associated Press saying there were power and water outages there. "Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting," he said. Many office workers say they could feel their building swaying back and forth and people were running for emergency exits, reports CBS Radio News reporter Celia Hatton.

Xinhua said an underground water pipe ruptured near the city's southern railway station, flooding a main thoroughfare. Reporters saw buildings with cracks in their walls but no collapses, Xinhua said.

State television broadcast tips for anyone trapped in the earthquake. "If you're buried, keep calm and conserve your energy. Seek water and food, and wait patiently for rescue," CCTV said.

The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) to the north, less than three months before the Chinese capital was expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors for the Summer Olympics.

Many Beijing office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for the organizers of the Olympics, which start in August.

Injuries were also reported in Aba prefecture of Sichuan province, where the earthquake was centered. A statement issued by the local government said the quake cracked and collapsed buildings, and damaged mountain roads.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered about 6 miles below the surface, and that there were at least several smaller aftershocks.

Chinese President Hu Jintao ordered that the injured be quickly treated, Xinhua reported. Premier Wen Jiabao was headed to the epicenter and troops with China's People's Liberation Army were being dispatched to help with disaster relief.

In Beijing, thousands of people evacuated or were ordered out of buildings.

"I've lived in Taipei and California and I've been through quakes before. This is the most I've ever felt," said James McGregor, a business consultant who was inside the LG Towers in Beijing's business district. "The floor was moving underneath me."

People ran screaming into the streets in other cities, where many residents said they had never been in an earthquake. In Fuyang, 660 miles to the east in Anhui province, chandeliers in the lobby of the Buckingham Palace Hotel swayed. "We've never felt anything like this our whole lives," said a hotel employee surnamed Zhu.

Patients at the Fuyang People's No. 1 Hospital were evacuated. An hour after the quake, a half-dozen patients in blue-striped pajamas stood outside the hospital. One was laying on a hospital bed in the parking lot.

Closer to the epicenter in Chongqing, Lai Dequn was napping while her mother watched TV on the 19th floor of a hotel. "I suddenly felt the bed shaking and then realized it must be an earthquake," said the 42-year-old Lai. "So I just put on slippers and helped my mother down to the ground floor."

In Shanghai, skyscrapers swayed and most office occupants went rushing into the streets. The quake was also felt as far away as Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.

The last serious earthquake in China was in 2003, when a 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Bachu county in the west of Xinjiang.

China's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, killing 240,000 people.

The U.S. Geological Survey described it as "a dangerous earthquake" given its proximity to densely populated areas.

"I would say the best characterization at this point is that it's a dangerous earthquake," said Bruce Presgrave, a geophysicist at the USGS in Colorado. "The entire area is a densely populated part of China. There are lots of people exposed to potentially damaging ground shaking."

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