China quake response ramps up with supplies

By AFP
Published Monday, April 19, 2010

Relief supplies poured into China's quake zone in a remote Tibetan region Monday as the disaster response ramped up, but authorities warned icy weather could bring more misery in days ahead.

An AFP journalist saw roads leading into the earthquake-shattered town of Jiegu in northwestern China clogged with ambulances and trucks carrying food, tents and quilts for victims of a disaster that killed at least 1,706 people.

As the long queue of vehicles inched into Jiegu, the main population centre in the quake zone in Qinghai province, rescuers continued to painstakingly search through huge piles of rubble for more survivors.

Officials have said another 256 people were still missing after last Wednesday's strong 6.9 magnitude quake, which also injured 12,000 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Hundreds of kilometres away, AFP journalists saw convoys of military trucks and civilian aid vehicles heading to the disaster area on the Tibetan plateau known as the "Roof of the World".

The quake-stricken region sits high up in a rugged region at an elevation of around 4,000 metres (13,00 feet), which government officials have blamed for hindering efforts to reach victims.

The convoys will no doubt be a welcome sight after authorities warned at the weekend that clothing, food and drink remained in short supply in the quake zone, whose population is more than 90 percent ethnic Tibetan.

In town, Tibetan monks in their maroon and saffron robes continued to take a lead role in the emergency response, helping to clear the debris of flattened houses and buildings and distribute food to residents.

At the Jiegu monastery perched on foothills overlooking the town, around 50 monks loaded bottles of water and instant noodles on to a truck bound for quake-hit villages.

A brilliant sun shone on the town Monday but poor weather was forecast for the next three days.

Intermittent rain and snow have added to the suffering of victims sleeping outside in freezing weather after thousands of homes collapsed.

"Snow, icy roads and sudden high winds on some roads threaten transportation and relief work," the National Meteorological Centre said.

The weather concerns add to other difficulties faced by rescuers and survivors, such as aftershocks.

The disaster relief headquarters said the region had been seen more than 1,200 aftershocks, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

To heed off risks of deadly disease outbreaks, the bodies of hundreds of quake victims were cremated outside Jiegu on Saturday, on a massive funeral pyre piled high with naked corpses and set ablaze by chanting Buddhist monks.

Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the quake zone a day later, comforting residents and calling on rescuers to keep searching for survivors, despite fading hopes of finding anyone alive under the rubble.

"I assure you that the Party and the government will definitely help quake victims rebuild homes and resume classes for children as soon as possible," he told a local Tibetan in images broadcast on state television.

The Dalai Lama - Tibet's exiled spiritual leader who was born in Qinghai and later fled the Himalayan region after a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959 - has appealed to the government to let him visit the victims.

Tibetans in Jiegu expressed hope the Dalai Lama would be allowed into the region, but request looked unlikely to be granted by China, which has branded the Nobel Peace Prize winner a separatist.