quote:Drie dagen nationale rouw in China
Bron: NOS
China heeft drie dagen van nationale rouw afgekondigd om de tienduizenden slachtoffers van de aardbeving te herdenken. Vanaf morgen hangen op alle overheidsgebouwen de vlaggen halfstok. Er wordt rekening gehouden met zeker 50.000 doden.
President Hu Jintao heeft veel lof voor de buitenlandse hulp die is ontvangen na de aardbeving. Hij bedankt China's internationale vrienden en buitenlandse regeringen voor alle bijdragen.
In de stad Beichuan is het reddingswerk hervat. Gisteren verlieten hulpverleners de stad na geruchten over een dreigende overstroming.
quote:China declares national mourning
Bron: BBC News
China has announced three days of mourning for the tens of thousands of victims of Monday's earthquake.
It will begin with a three-minute silence at 1428 (0628 GMT), exactly a week after the quake struck the south-western Sichuan province.
The Olympic torch relay will also be suspended for three days.
The number of confirmed deaths has now risen to 32,477, but officials say the final toll may reach 50,000. More than 220,000 people have been injured.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has expressed gratitude for the international help with relief efforts following the magnitude 7.9 quake.
"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Offers of help in the relief effort from home and abroad have now surpassed $860m (£440m), Chinese officials say.
The first aid supplied by the US has arrived, with an air force plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.
However, a British rescue team standing by in Hong Kong is returning home after being refused permission to travel to the earthquake zone.
Rescue efforts have resumed in Beichuan, after the city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks.
The city, which lies near the epicentre of the quake, was reduced to ruins.
Aftershocks
Three giant pandas are missing from the Wolong Nature Reserve, Xinhua reports. All the pandas at the reserve were initially reported safe.
There are still stories of survivors being pulled from the rubble.
One man who was rescued on Sunday, Tang Xiong, had only had slight bruises and was conscious when he was rescued in Beichuan county 139 hours after the quake, Xinhua said.
A 53-year-old man was pulled from the rubble in the town of Yingxiu in Wenchuan county after surviving for 148 hours, state media said.
Rescue workers worked for eight hours to save him.
The region shuddered again as a strong aftershock - measured by the US Geological Survey at 6.0 - struck at 0108 on Sunday (1508 GMT Saturday).
There have been hundreds of aftershocks, some causing landslides. Rescue work has also been hampered by heavy rain in some areas.
The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort. It released figures on Saturday demonstrating the scale of the operation.
It said 220,109 people had been recorded injured, not just in Sichuan, but in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, and Guizhou provinces.
It said some 181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts, and 170,000 cotton-padded garments had been despatched to the disaster zone.
More than 10,600 people are believed to be still trapped, Xinhua said, citing regional officials
Rescue teams from South Korea, Singapore and Russia have joined Japanese and Taiwanese experts taking part in the search.
The specialist teams are equipped with sniffer dogs, and fibre-optic cameras and heat sensors to detect people buried under the rubble.
But experts say the chances of finding people alive are diminishing.
Nuclear facilities in the affected area have been confirmed to be safe, the ministry of environmental protection's Nuclear Safety Department said, Xinhua has reported.
China has a research reactor, two nuclear fuel production sites and two nuclear weapon facilities in Sichuan, all between 60-145km (40-90 miles) from the epicentre, according to the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety.
quote:Grote overstroming dreigt in China
Bron: NOS
In het aardbevingsgebied in China dreigt een grote overstroming bij Beichuan. Door de aardbeving van maandag zijn bij de Chinese stad rivierstromen geblokkeerd en is een meer ontstaan.
Het waterpeil is de afgelopen dagen flink gestegen en een Reuters-fotograaf zegt dat het meer overloopt. Op welke schaal dat gebeurt, is onbekend. Ook is onduidelijk of er slachtoffers zijn.
Vanwege het dreigende gevaar was de afgelopen uren een massale evacuatie op gang gekomen. Duizenden inwoners zijn naar hoger gelegen gebied gevlucht. De aardbeving heeft volgens de regering aan 29.000 mensen het leven gekost.
quote:China quake victims flee 'flood'
Bron: BBC News
There has been panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan after a river nearby burst its bank sparking reports it could flood the entire city.
The BBC's Paul Danahar in Beichuan says there was a stampede as thousands of people fled to higher ground.
The whole city has been evacuated, forcing the suspension of all rescue efforts, our correspondent says.
Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake in which it is feared about 50,000 people died.
On Saturday the number of confirmed deaths rose to 28,881 and the Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless by the disaster.
Our correspondent in Beichuan says the city went from a scene of rescue and relief into mayhem.
"Everybody just ran - rescuers, army relief teams, medical workers and locals - and people who were in the process of being rescued had to be left behind.
"We were in the process of filming a man about to be pulled out after hours of digging and the rescue team had to abandon him and run."
Our correspondent has now returned to the heart of the city after the authorities said that though the river had burst its banks the city was not under threat from the water, but the majority of people are remaining on the surrounding hillsides.
"It is not surprising," our correspondent says. "This entire community has been shaken to its core, they are surrounded by unstable buildings which threaten to topple at any moment, and the people have been deeply traumatised by what has happened."
The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort, which has garnered some success.
On Saturday, 33 people were dug out of the rubble in Beichuan, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, they include a 52-year-old man who was pulled free after 117 hours buried in debris.
And in the hard-hit county of Wenchuan a German tourist was pulled from rubble having been buried for 114 hours.
Race against time
China's president has urged rescuers throughout the earthquake-struck province of Sichuan to race to save lives.
Visiting the south-western province, Hu Jintao said "time is pressing" during the effort's "most crucial phase".
"Although the time for the best chance of rescue, the first 72 hours after an earthquake, has passed, saving lives remains the top priority of our work," Mr Hu told distraught relatives of those still missing.
On Friday, Mr Hu toured Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he viewed relief efforts and met rescue workers.
Correspondents say the Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster.
Premier Wen Jiabao said the quake was the most destructive and widespread since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.
Its scale was greater than that of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which left 240,000 dead, he said.
quote:China schat dodental aardbeving op 50.000
Bron: Nu.nl
Het dodental als gevolg van de zware aardbeving in de Chinese provincie Sichuan zal waarschijnlijk oplopen tot boven de 50.000.
Tot nu toe zijn bijna 20.000 doden geborgen en tienduizenden mensen liggen nog onder het puin, meldde staatspersbureau Xinhua donderdag.
De hoop dat er nog overlevenden worden gevonden na de beving van maandag, wordt met de dag kleiner. "Als er nog enkele overlevenden zijn onder dergelijke omstandigheden, zou dat een kwestie van geluk of een wonder zijn", citeerde Xinhua Zhang Zhoushu, vicedirecteur van de overheidsinstelling Aardbeving Rampen Preventie Centrum.
Amputeren
In de stad Yingxiu werd donderdag nog wel een 11-jarig meisje onder het puin vandaan gehaald. Ze had daar 68 uur gelegen. Om haar te bevrijden moesten artsen eerst wel een been van haar amputeren. "Het is fantastisch dat ze nog in leven is!", schreeuwde een omstander.
De toestand van het meisje was donderdag echter nog kritiek. China heeft de hulpverlening in Sichuan drastisch opgevoerd. De 50.000 militairen die al actief zijn in het gebied krijgen versterking van nog eens 30.000 man.
Distributie
Negentig extra helikopters moeten voor een betere ontsluiting van het rampgebied zorgen. Veel wegen zijn geblokkeerd waardoor de distributie van noodhulp ernstig wordt belemmerd.
In het rampgebied worden ook tentenkampen opgezet voor de honderdduizenden mensen die dakloos zijn geraakt. Uit angst voor naschokken durven veel Chinezen niet in gebouwen te overnachten.
Overlevenden in het gebied worden ook zelf steeds meer actief. Zo probeerden ouders donderdag met man en macht circa negenhonderd kinderen onder het puin van een ingestorte schoolgebouw in de zwaargetroffen stad Dujiangyan te halen.
Doorzoeken
"Het is niet dat we de reddingswerkers niet vertrouwen. Ze hebben heel veel werk verricht, maar ze kunnen gewoonweg niet alle plaatsen doorzoeken in zo'n groot gebied", aldus een inwoner.
De leider van de Communistische Jeugd Liga in de stad Chengdu waarschuwde donderdag dat vrijwilligers die slachtoffers willen helpen, meer kwaad dan goed doen. De vrijwilligers belemmeren volgens hem reddingswerkzaamheden, blokkeren de wegen en worden in sommige gevallen zelf slachtoffer.
Reuzenpanda
Een groep van 33 buitenlandse toeristen is donderdag geëvacueerd uit het Wolong-reservaat, het belangrijkste centrum voor het fokken van de bedreigde reuzenpanda in China. Wolong ligt in het bergachtige gebied Wenchuan, waar het epicentrum van de aarbeving van maandag lag.
Het Chinese staatspersbureau Xinhua meldde dat de buitenlanders met militaire helikopters zijn overgebracht naar Chengdu. Onder de geëvacueerden zijn Fransen, Amerikanen en Britten.
quote:Gevaar doorbraak stuw China geweken
Bron: NOS
In Midden-China is het gevaar geweken
dat een grote stuwdam doorbreekt.Een
groot aantal militairen heeft scheuren
in de wand gedicht.Andere troepen halen
de druk op het bouwwerk weg door water
uit het stuwmeer te pompen.
Er werd vanmiddag groot alarm geslagen
toen bovenaan de wand scheuren werden
ontdekt van tien centimeter breed.Bij
een doorbraak zouden veel mensen in het
dal getroffen worden.
Het officiële dodental als gevolg van
de aardbeving staat op 15.000.In de
provincie Sichuan liggen mogelijk nog
25.000 mensen onder het puin van de
ingestorte gebouwen.
quote:Paniek na naschok in Chengdu
Bron: ANP
Inwoners van Chengdu, de hoofdstad van de door een zware aardbeving getroffen provincie Sichuan, zijn dinsdag in paniek de straat opgerend na een zware naschok. Dat heeft het Chinese staatspersbureau Xinhua gemeld.
De naschok die tot paniek leidde had om 09.10 uur (Nederlandse tijd) plaats. Xinhua meldde dat na de beving van maandag ongeveer twintig naschokken zijn gevoeld. Daarvan hadden er enkele een kracht van zeker 6 op de schaal van Richter. De beving van maandag had een kracht van 7,8 op de schaal van Richter.
quote:Death toll rises in China quake
Bron: BBC News
The most powerful earthquake to hit China in 30 years has killed at least 10,000 people in south-western Sichuan province, with thousands more trapped.
Chinese state media said that 10,000 people were thought to be buried in one town alone near the epicentre of the earthquake in Wenchuan County.
A team of 1,300 troops and medics has now reached Wenchuan, which was largely cut off by the quake.
Premier Wen Jiabao has urged rescuers to work as hard as they can.
But rescue efforts are being hampered by heavy rain and badly damaged roads.
"People's lives and property safety are the top priorities and many people are still trapped in debris," Xinhua news agency quoted Mr Wen as saying in the disaster relief headquarters, north-west of Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.
"We must treasure every second and do our utmost to save survivors."
China has deployed 50,000 troops to help with relief efforts, 16,000 of whom are already in the area.
The BBC's Nick Mackie in Dujiangyan says there are hundreds if not thousands of people just sleeping out in the streets under tarpaulins, after torrential rain fell all through the night.
Cries for help
The 7.8 magnitude quake struck on Monday at 1428 local time (0628 GMT) and was felt as far away as Beijing and the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Boulders and landslides are blocking roads in the worst-hit areas and helicopters have been unable to land because of bad weather.
In Wenchuan County, a top official, Wang Bin, appealed via satellite phone for outside help.
"We are in urgent need of tents, food, medicine and satellite communications equipment through air drop," he said.
"We also need medical workers to save the injured people here."
In the nearby town of Mianzhu, 10,000 people were thought to be buried and massive landslides had buried roads to outlying villages, Xinhua reported.
Across the region, schools, hospitals and chemical plants were all reported to have been affected.
There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - south-east of the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and at least 50 killed.
Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building struggled to break free, while others cried out for help, Xinhua reported.
Another of the worst-hit areas appears to be Beichuan county, about 50km from the epicentre.
Some 80% of buildings there were reported to have been destroyed, leaving between 3,000 and 5,000 people dead and up to 10,000 injured.
Another school collapsed there, leaving more than 1,000 students dead or buried, Xinhua said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people were reported to have been buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, and at least five other schools were reported to be in ruins.
More than 150 people were killed in the other provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi, and in Chongqing municipality, Xinhua said.
'All-out efforts'
US President George W Bush expressed condolences to victims' families, while Japan offered to send aid.
"The Chinese government are to be commended for their quick and efficient response. The UK stands ready to assist," said British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Several strong aftershocks have been reported since the quake, China's worst since 1976 when 242,000 people were killed in Tangshan.
Immediately after the disaster, President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.
The BBC's Quentin Somerville says this is probably the most significant natural disaster to hit China in recent memory, but that the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.
He also says it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.
The fact the quake was felt in Beijing, he says, means millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.
quote:Hulpverleners bij epicentrum China
Bron: NOS
De eerste reddingswerkers hebben het epicentrum bereikt van de verwoestende aardbeving in Midden-China. De streek Wenchuan was 24 uur van de buitenwereld afgesloten: het telefoonverkeer lag plat en wegen waren verwoest.
Alleen al in de provincie Sichuan zijn 10.000 mensen omgekomen. Dat aantal kan nog flink oplopen omdat veel mensen onder het puin liggen en hulpverleners nu pas de zwaarder getroffen gebieden kunnen bereiken.
De beving was ook in Peking voelbaar, maar de gebouwen van de Olympische Spelen zijn onbeschadigd. De grote dam in de Yangtze heeft het ook gehouden.
quote:Thousands dead in Chinese quake
Bron: BBC News
A powerful earthquake has killed at least 8,500 people in China's south-western Sichuan province, up to 5,000 of them in just one county.
Many more are feared killed and injured in other parts of the country after the quake, which had a magnitude of 7.8, struck at 1428 local time (0628 GMT).
At least 50 bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a school where an estimated 900 students were buried.
President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims.
The epicentre of the earthquake was about 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.
Because the earthquake struck in the middle of the day, it is feared that many schoolchildren may be among the victims.
Cries for help
One of the worst-hit areas appears to be Beichuan county, part of the Mianyang city municipal area, about 50km from the epicentre.
Some 80% of buildings there were reported to have been destroyed, leaving between 3,000 and 5,000 people dead and up to 10,000 injured.
Meanwhile hundreds of people were reported to have been buried in two collapsed chemical plants in Shifang in Sichuan, and at least five other schools were reported to have collapsed.
And there are fears the death toll could turn out to be much higher once the damage in Wenchuan county - the epicentre - is assessed, says BBC China analyst Shirong Chen.
The area is very rugged, full of mountains and valleys and a number of roads are connected with bridges from one mountain top to the next, he says.
Wenchuan county is also home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China's leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas. The centre could not be reached by phone, it was reported.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to Chengdu immediately, said China needed "calm, confidence, courage and strong leadership".
"We will definitely overcome this major disaster," he promised.
US President George W Bush expressed condolences to victims' families, while Japan offered to send aid.
There were harrowing reports from the scene of a school collapse in Dujiangyan city - about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre - where 900 students were buried and 50 dead.
Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.
Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".
Fast response
Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was felt in Beijing, 1,545km (960 miles) away, and the Thai capital Bangkok, 1,800km (1,200 miles) away.
It was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua said.
The province is the most populated part of China - home to 87 million people.
State television said the quake had not caused major damage to Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, or to the nearby Three Gorges Dam.
Troops and helicopters have been sent to help with relief work.
The BBC's Quentin Somerville says this is probably the the most significant natural disaster to hit China in recent memory, but that the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.
He also says it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.
The quake was felt as far away as Beijing, he says, meaning millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.
quote:Zware aardbeving treft China
Bron: NOS
De provincie Sichuan in het zuidwesten van China is getroffen door een zware aardbeving. Volgens het Chinese persbureau Xinhua zijn er tot nu toe zeker 107 mensen gedood.
Verwacht wordt dat het dodental hoger komt te liggen. Telefoonlijnen werken niet meer, reddingswerkers proberen de afgesloten gebieden te bereiken.
In Dujiangyan stortte een middelbare school in. Er zouden zeker 900 studenten onder het puin terecht zijn gekomen. Tenminste zes leerlingen zijn dood teruggevonden. In de grote stad Chongqing werden veel schoolkinderen door de beving verrast. Tenminste vijf schoolkinderen vonden de dood.
De beving in de provincie Sichuan had een kracht van 7,5 op de schaal van Richter, zegt de Amerikaanse seismologische dienst. Het epicentrum lag zo'n honderd kilometer van de hoofdstad Chengdu. In de provincie Sichuan wonen zeker 10 miljoen mensen.
Militaire hulp
President Hu Jintao zegt dat alles op alles moet worden gezet om de slachtoffers te redden. Premier Wen Jiabao is naar het gebied afgereisd en militairen zijn onderweg om hulp te bieden.
De schok was op duizenden kilometers afstand te voelen. Niet alleen in de Chinese hoofdstad Peking en in de havenstad Shanghai, maar ook in de buurlanden Thailand en Vietnam en op het eiland Taiwan stonden gebouwen te schudden.
quote:Negenhonderd scholieren onder puin in China
Bron: NU.nl
Bij de aardbeving in de Chinese provincie Sichuan zijn bijna negenhonderd schoolkinderen onder het puin bedolven. Dit berichtte het staatspersbureau Xinhua.
ANP
Twee schoolgebouwen in de provinciehoofdstad Chengdu zijn naar verluidt als gevolg van de krachtige aardbeving maandag ingestort.
De beving had een kracht van 7,5 op de schaal van Richter en het epicentrum lag ruim 90 kilometer van Chengdu verwijderd.
Het officiële dodental staat op zes. Maar gevreesd wordt dat dit enorm zal oplopen zodra gegevens beschikbaar komen van de gebieden waarmee alle contact is verbroken als gevolg van de beving.
Aardbevingentopic in DE: Aardbevingen #6quote:Magnitude 7.8 Earthquake Rocks Central China; 900 Students Buried, 107 Dead
Bron: FOXNews
CHONGQING, China — Thousands of soldiers and police were dispatched to central China after a massive earthquake Monday killed at least 107 people and buried nearly 900 schoolchildren. The death toll was expected to rise sharply.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck in the middle of the afternoon — when classes and office towers were full — 57 miles northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.
Xinhua News Agency said four of the dead were ninth-grade students killed when the Juyuan Middle School building collapsed. Photographs showed heavy cranes trying to move rubble from the ruined structure.
It did not say how many of the 900 trapped students were feared dead.
The earthquake comes less than three months before the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, when China hopes to use to showcase its rise in the world.
Xinhua said its reporters in Juyuan township about 60 miles from the epicenter in Wenchuan county in Sichuan province saw buried teenagers struggling to break loose from underneath the rubble of the three-story school "while others were crying out for help."
Photos posted on the Internet and found on the Chinese search engine Baidu showed arms and a torso sticking out of the rubble of the school as dozens of people worked to free them, using small mechanical winches or their hands to move concrete slabs.
Another photo from Wenchuan showed what appeared to have been a six-story building flattened, ripped away from taller buildings of gray concrete.
Xinhua quoted the Ministry of Civil Affairs as saying the 107 dead had been killed in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces and in the municipality of Chongqing. It said many had died in collapsed buildings but did not give details.
More than 5,000 soldiers and police have been rushed into Sichuan to help in the disaster relief.
The airport in Sichuan's 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 (92 kilometers) northwest of Chengdu at 2:28 p.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. It was centered about 6 miles below the surface. A series of smaller aftershocks followed.
Calls into the city did not go through as panicked residents quickly overloaded the telephone system.
"In Chengdu, mobile telecommunication switches 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.
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 to the north. The Chinese capital is expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors when the Olympics start on Aug. 8.
Many Beijing office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for the organizers of the Olympics, which start in August.
Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Chengdu just before sunset to oversee rescue work.
"The Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council (Cabinet) have asked officials at all levels to be at the front line of the fighting the earthquake and lead the people in their rescue work," he told reporters on the way.
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.
quote:Chinese officials say a hospital in Dujiangyan city, Sichuan province, has collapsed after a massive earthquake.
quote:CHINESE STATE MEDIA REPORTS 5,000 PEOPLE CONFIRMED DEAD IN EARTHQUAKE; 10,000 INJURED. DETAILS SOON.
Dat is nog 30 dagen en 22 uur snellerquote:Op maandag 12 mei 200815:58 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:
Ja nouja de aardbeving was al vanochtend en nu het afgelopen uur - twee uur blijkt het ineens heel ernstig te zijn.
O jee daar gaan de prijzen weer! (Opmerking over milieu hoef ik niet te maken, dat was toch al naar zijn grootje vermoed ik zo)quote:Several chemical plants have collapsed after a massive earthquake and "burried" at least hundreds, China's state-run media reports.
quote:DEATH TOLL FROM 7.8 EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA RISES TO AT LEAST 7,000 IN ONE PROVINCE ALONE. DETAILS SOON.
Mjah provincie is nogal groot, het gaat ook voornamelijk om één provincie (daar waar het epicentrum in ligt).quote:
quote:The death toll in China's southwestern Sichuan province has risen to at least 7,651 in that province alone - provincial government.
ik denk dat de aantallen in andere provincies inderdaad wel mee zullen vallen, zeker gezien deze aantallenquote:Op maandag 12 mei 200816:44 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:
[..]
Mjah provincie is nogal groot, het gaat ook voornamelijk om één provincie (daar waar het epicentrum in ligt).
Nog veel hoor, daar niet van [afbeelding]
We zullen vóór 18.00 uur wel op 10.000 doden zittenquote:DEATH TOLL FROM CHINA EARTHQUAKE RISES TO AT LEAST 8,533 IN ONE PROVINCE ALONE.
'mooi' lijstje...quote:MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 15:05:31 31.258 103.700 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 14:46:08 32.709 105.617 10.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 14:15:26 32.120 104.612 10.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 5.8 2008/05/12 11:11:02 31.249 103.693 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 10:23:40 30.992 103.413 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.5 2008/05/12 09:42:25 31.519 104.116 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.1 2008/05/12 09:07:01 31.255 103.788 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.0 2008/05/12 08:47:25 32.215 105.029 10.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA
MAP 5.2 2008/05/12 08:21:41 31.542 104.085 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.2 2008/05/12 08:10:59 31.225 103.574 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.4 2008/05/12 07:34:43 31.278 103.799 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 5.7 2008/05/12 06:54:18 31.155 103.826 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 6.0 2008/05/12 06:43:15 31.225 103.761 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
MAP 7.8 2008/05/12 06:28:01 31.104 103.270 10.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
en iedereen is Myanmar alweer vergeten... hoe vergankelijk is nieuwsquote:Op maandag 12 mei 200817:32 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
http://twitter.com/BreakingNewsOn
[..]
We zullen vóór 18.00 uur wel op 10.000 doden zitten [afbeelding].
quote:CHONGQING, China — A massive earthquake struck central China on Monday and state media reported that as many as 8,533 people were killed in a single county while nearly 900 students were trapped under the rubble of their school.
The official Xinhua News Agency said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan county in Sichuan province after the 7.8-magnitude quake.
Xinhua reported that more than 8,533 people had died in Beichuan, which has a population of 160,000, raising fears the overall death toll could increase sharply. Another 10,000 people were believed to be hurt.
The earthquake sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.
Rescuers had recovered at least 50 bodies from the debris of the school building in Juyuan township, about 60 miles from the epicenter. Xinhua did not say if any students had been pulled out alive.
An unknown number of students also were reported buried after buildings collapsed at five other schools in Deyang city in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.
It said its reporters saw buried teenagers struggling to break loose from underneath the rubble of the three-story building in Juyuan "while others were crying out for help."
Two girls were quoted by Xinhua as saying they escaped because they had "run faster than others."
The earthquake comes less than three months before the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, when China hopes to use to showcase its rise in the world.
Shanghai's main index inched up Monday, but the advance was capped by worries over inflation and potential damage from the earthquake. Analysts said that shares of companies located in the Sichuan region may fall in coming sessions due to the quake.
It struck in the middle of the afternoon when classes and office towers were full, about 60 miles northwest of Chengdu. There were several smaller aftershocks, 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. The quake affected telephone and power networks, and even state media appeared to have few details of the disaster.
"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.
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.
The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing, some 930 miles 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. None of the Olympic venues was damaged.
"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."
In Fuyang, 660 miles to the east, 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.
Skyscrapers in Shanghai swayed and most office occupants went rushing into the streets.
In the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 100 miles off the southeastern Chinese coast, buildings swayed when the quake hit. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The quake was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where some people hurried out of swaying office buildings and into the streets downtown. A building in the Thai capital of Bangkok also was evacuated after the quake was felt there.
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.
quote:'Buried teenagers crying for help'
Bron: BBC News
Chinese women cries on a street after an earthquake strike in Chengdu (12 May 2008)
A series of aftershocks have since hit the provincial capital, Chengdu
The Chinese authorities have launched a major rescue operation in Sichuan province, after it was struck by the most powerful earthquake to hit the south-west of the country in 30 years.
More than 8,500 people are feared dead, while many thousands more may be buried beneath collapsed buildings or injured, state media have reported.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Monday afternoon was felt across a huge swathe of Asia, causing buildings to sway as far away as Beijing and Bangkok.
Those closest to its epicentre, 92km (57 miles) north-west of the provincial capital Chengdu, have told of their shock and described the immediate aftermath.
Casper Oppenhuisdejong, who works for a Dutch company in the city of 10 million, told the BBC there were initially a series of minor tremors.
"All of a sudden I felt minor shocks and within seconds everybody was up. It was getting more and more intense, everybody ran out," he said.
"We were in quite a narrow street where everything just started shaking. All the alarms of the cars around went off, all the windows you heard smashing into each other," he added.
"Entire buildings were being evacuated, people were panicking, especially since the phones didn't work. It was mayhem. Traffic got jammed, it was very surreal."
An employee of Sichuan's seismological bureau told China's state-run Xinhua news agency that he had been driving near the epicentre when the earthquake struck.
"The road started swaying as I was driving. Rocks fell from the mountains, with dust darkening the sky over the valley," he said.
Aftershocks
Gilles Barbier, who was staying in Chengdu at the time, told the BBC there was no major damage to buildings, but that aftershocks were causing concern.
"In the past two hours, I think every 20 minutes, 30 minutes, we can feel the ground shaking."
Ronen Medzini, an Israeli student, told the Associated Press by text message that power and water supplies and communications had been severely disrupted.
"Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting," he said.
Collapsed school
In the nearby city of Dujiangyan, which was closer to the epicentre, desperate efforts are under way to find survivors underneath the rubble of a three-storey school building which collapsed, burying an estimated 900 students.
Reporters from Xinhua said local residents and rescue workers were pulling people out of the rubble of Juyuan Middle School as anxious parents looked on.
"Some buried teenagers were struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help," Xinhua reported.
Gao Shangyuan, a local resident helping with the rescue effort, told Xinhua he had run out of his house when the earthquake had struck and saw some students escape before the building collapsed.
"Some had jumped out of the window and a few others ran down the stairs that did not collapse," he said.
Two girls said they managed to escape because they had "run faster than the others", Xinhua added.
"It was around 2:30 pm, and the building suddenly began to rock back and forth," one of them said.
Wat is waar?quote:In addition, the earthquake was relatively shallow, Presgrave said, and those kinds of quakes tend to do more damage near the epicenter than deeper ones.
In dat stukje van de NOS staat wel 7.8. Ik weet niet wanneer ze de kracht naar 7.9 hebben bijgesteld, maar da's vast net gebeurd.quote:Op maandag 12 mei 2008 19:35 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
Kracht bijgesteld naar 7.9. Zie http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2008/us2008ryan/. Blijkbaar liggen ze bij de NOS al even te pitten. Die roepen nog 7.5 terwijl de kracht al uren op 7.8 (en nu dus 7.9) is bepaald. Is dat nou zo lastig om de juiste waarde te vermelden?
Op 't moment dat ik het bericht postte, stond er nog 7.5. Ze zijn toch wakker gewordenquote:Op maandag 12 mei 2008 20:08 schreef Light het volgende:
[..]
In dat stukje van de NOS staat wel 7.8. Ik weet niet wanneer ze de kracht naar 7.9 hebben bijgesteld, maar da's vast net gebeurd.
Het is de vraag wat in dit geval 'beter' was geweest met die grote steden dichtbij het epicentrum....quote:Op maandag 12 mei 2008 20:11 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:
Als het dichter aan het oppervlak is, doet het meer schade in de buurt van het epicenter, maar is de schade op grotere afstand van het epicenter kleiner dan bij een diepe aardbeving.
Eerder al gemeld:quote:Death toll from China's 7.9 earthquake rises to at least 7,751 in three provinces; 10,400 injured; at least 1,100 still trapped in rubble.
Dus 7.751 doden in drie provincies en 8.533 in één provincie... Hm....quote:DEATH TOLL FROM CHINA EARTHQUAKE RISES TO AT LEAST 8,533 IN ONE PROVINCE ALONE. DETAILS SOON.
Eerstgenoemde bericht is inmiddels gewijzigd in:quote:Op maandag 12 mei 2008 20:59 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
De getallen gaan wat door elkaar lopen:
Zojuist:
[..]
Eerder al gemeld:
[..]
Dus 7.751 doden in drie provincies en 8.533 in één provincie... Hm....
Als dat vier verschillende provincies zijn, vrees ik dat we de getallen bij elkaar kunnen optellen...
Klinkt iets logischer.quote:Death toll from China's 7.9 earthquake rises to at least 8,633 in three provinces; 10,400 injured; at least 1,100 still trapped in rubble.
Dat is filosofisch. Je hebt zeker op Google Earth ook wel gezien hoe divers of het landschap daar is. Dan kun je nog niet de ondergrond zien, dat ook nog zeer bepaalt of een gebouw valt of niet. En dan zijn daar nog de oudste wijken, menselijke factoren. Dan maakt een factor 3 sterkere beving niet alles uit. Zo'n grote beving werkt verwoestend uit en een precieze berekening -zeker op korte termijn- is zwaar om te maken.quote:
Dat kwam neem ik aan omdat het bij hun nacht was.quote:Op dinsdag 13 mei 2008 02:34 schreef indahnesia.com het volgende:
aah, een stabiel dodental in de laatste aantal uren.. dat is een goed teken
jah, 10.000 nu, en nog heel veel mensen in fabrieken, scholen e.d..quote:Op dinsdag 13 mei 200809:39 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:
[..]
Dat kwam neem ik aan omdat het bij hun nacht was.
Dodental is nu verder opgelopen, ik ga de OP updaten.
klikkerdeklik.. even ramptoerist spelenquote:Op woensdag 14 mei 200810:53 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
Foto's uit het rampgebied: http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20080513_1.htm
Als die dammen bezwijken komen er flink wat sawa's bijquote:In Midden-China dat getroffen is door de aardbeving van maandag, dreigen twee stuwdammen door te breken. De damwanden vertonen scheuren. Duizenden militairen zijn naar de dammen gestuurd om die te repareren. Het is niet bekend hoeveel mensen getroffen zouden worden door een damdoorbraak. De situatie is volgens de regering "extreem gevaarlijk".
Het officiële dodental als gevolg van de aardbeving staat nu op 15.000. In de provincie Sichuan liggen mogelijk nog 25.000 mensen onder het puin van de ingestorte gebouwen.
In het gebied zoeken 50.000 militairen naar overlevenden van de natuurramp. (TT)
quote:Op woensdag 14 mei 2008 17:39 schreef okee6 het volgende:
[..]
Als die dammen bezwijken komen er flink wat sawa's bij
Ik neem aan dat deze stad geevacueerd wordt.quote:De Zipingpu-dam verkeert volgens de officiële spreekbuis van de autoriteiten in "groot gevaar". Bij een damdoorbraak zou de stad die ongeveer 630.000 zielen telt, overstromen, stelt het Chinese ministerie van Waterbeheer.
quote:124 Teletekst wo 14 mei
***************************************
Gevaar doorbraak stuw China geweken
***************************************
` In Midden-China is het gevaar geweken
dat een grote stuwdam doorbreekt.Een
groot aantal militairen heeft scheuren
in de wand gedicht.Andere troepen halen
de druk op het bouwwerk weg door water
uit het stuwmeer te pompen.
Er werd vanmiddag groot alarm geslagen
toen bovenaan de wand scheuren werden
ontdekt van tien centimeter breed.Bij
een doorbraak zouden veel mensen in het
dal getroffen worden.
Het officiële dodental als gevolg van
de aardbeving staat op 15.000.In de
provincie Sichuan liggen mogelijk nog
25.000 mensen onder het puin van de
ingestorte gebouwen.
quote:Op dinsdag 13 mei 2008 10:35 schreef indahnesia.com het volgende:
Flinke serie naschokken, ook iets waarvan je minder goed slaapt zeg maar
maar de dam is dus onbruikbaar geworden.quote:Op woensdag 14 mei 200820:25 schreef Roel_Jewel het volgende:
Gevaar voor damdoorbraak is inmiddels geweken:
[..]
teringquote:PEKING - Het dodental als gevolg van de zware aardbeving in de Chinese provincie Sichuan zal waarschijnlijk oplopen tot boven de 50.000.
ANP
Tot nu toe zijn bijna 20.000 doden geborgen en tienduizenden mensen liggen nog onder het puin, meldde staatspersbureau Xinhua donderdag.
De hoop dat er nog overlevenden worden gevonden na de beving van maandag, wordt met de dag kleiner. "Als er nog enkele overlevenden zijn onder dergelijke omstandigheden, zou dat een kwestie van geluk of een wonder zijn", citeerde Xinhua Zhang Zhoushu, vicedirecteur van de overheidsinstelling Aardbeving Rampen Preventie Centrum.
Amputeren
In de stad Yingxiu werd donderdag nog wel een 11-jarig meisje onder het puin vandaan gehaald. Ze had daar 68 uur gelegen. Om haar te bevrijden moesten artsen eerst wel een been van haar amputeren. "Het is fantastisch dat ze nog in leven is!", schreeuwde een omstander.
De toestand van het meisje was donderdag echter nog kritiek. China heeft de hulpverlening in Sichuan drastisch opgevoerd. De 50.000 militairen die al actief zijn in het gebied krijgen versterking van nog eens 30.000 man.
Distributie
Negentig extra helikopters moeten voor een betere ontsluiting van het rampgebied zorgen. Veel wegen zijn geblokkeerd waardoor de distributie van noodhulp ernstig wordt belemmerd.
In het rampgebied worden ook tentenkampen opgezet voor de honderdduizenden mensen die dakloos zijn geraakt. Uit angst voor naschokken durven veel Chinezen niet in gebouwen te overnachten.
Overlevenden in het gebied worden ook zelf steeds meer actief. Zo probeerden ouders donderdag met man en macht circa negenhonderd kinderen onder het puin van een ingestorte schoolgebouw in de zwaargetroffen stad Dujiangyan te halen.
Doorzoeken
"Het is niet dat we de reddingswerkers niet vertrouwen. Ze hebben heel veel werk verricht, maar ze kunnen gewoonweg niet alle plaatsen doorzoeken in zo'n groot gebied", aldus een inwoner.
De leider van de Communistische Jeugd Liga in de stad Chengdu waarschuwde donderdag dat vrijwilligers die slachtoffers willen helpen, meer kwaad dan goed doen. De vrijwilligers belemmeren volgens hem reddingswerkzaamheden, blokkeren de wegen en worden in sommige gevallen zelf slachtoffer.
Reuzenpanda
Een groep van 33 buitenlandse toeristen is donderdag geëvacueerd uit het Wolong-reservaat, het belangrijkste centrum voor het fokken van de bedreigde reuzenpanda in China. Wolong ligt in het bergachtige gebied Wenchuan, waar het epicentrum van de aarbeving van maandag lag.
Het Chinese staatspersbureau Xinhua meldde dat de buitenlanders met militaire helikopters zijn overgebracht naar Chengdu. Onder de geëvacueerden zijn Fransen, Amerikanen en Britten.
Wie weet wat het klimaat nog in petto heeft, overbevolking bij de vleetquote:Op vrijdag 16 mei 2008 17:14 schreef indahnesia.com het volgende:
Het gaat vooralsnog harder in Myanmar met 77.000 doden. Mei 2008 was een niet zo hele goede maand voor in 'Het Aanzien van 2008' denk ik.
quote:China quake victims flee 'flood'
Bron: BBC News
There has been panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan after a river nearby burst its bank sparking reports it could flood the entire city.
The BBC's Paul Danahar in Beichuan says there was a stampede as thousands of people fled to higher ground.
The whole city has been evacuated, forcing the suspension of all rescue efforts, our correspondent says.
Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake in which it is feared about 50,000 people died.
On Saturday the number of confirmed deaths rose to 28,881 and the Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless by the disaster.
Our correspondent in Beichuan says the city went from a scene of rescue and relief into mayhem.
"Everybody just ran - rescuers, army relief teams, medical workers and locals - and people who were in the process of being rescued had to be left behind.
"We were in the process of filming a man about to be pulled out after hours of digging and the rescue team had to abandon him and run."
Our correspondent has now returned to the heart of the city after the authorities said that though the river had burst its banks the city was not under threat from the water, but the majority of people are remaining on the surrounding hillsides.
"It is not surprising," our correspondent says. "This entire community has been shaken to its core, they are surrounded by unstable buildings which threaten to topple at any moment, and the people have been deeply traumatised by what has happened."
The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort, which has garnered some success.
On Saturday, 33 people were dug out of the rubble in Beichuan, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, they include a 52-year-old man who was pulled free after 117 hours buried in debris.
And in the hard-hit county of Wenchuan a German tourist was pulled from rubble having been buried for 114 hours.
Race against time
China's president has urged rescuers throughout the earthquake-struck province of Sichuan to race to save lives.
Visiting the south-western province, Hu Jintao said "time is pressing" during the effort's "most crucial phase".
"Although the time for the best chance of rescue, the first 72 hours after an earthquake, has passed, saving lives remains the top priority of our work," Mr Hu told distraught relatives of those still missing.
On Friday, Mr Hu toured Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he viewed relief efforts and met rescue workers.
Correspondents say the Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster.
Premier Wen Jiabao said the quake was the most destructive and widespread since the People's Republic was founded in 1949.
Its scale was greater than that of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which left 240,000 dead, he said.
quote:Drie dagen nationale rouw in China
Bron: NOS
China heeft drie dagen van nationale rouw afgekondigd om de tienduizenden slachtoffers van de aardbeving te herdenken. Vanaf morgen hangen op alle overheidsgebouwen de vlaggen halfstok. Er wordt rekening gehouden met zeker 50.000 doden.
President Hu Jintao heeft veel lof voor de buitenlandse hulp die is ontvangen na de aardbeving. Hij bedankt China's internationale vrienden en buitenlandse regeringen voor alle bijdragen.
In de stad Beichuan is het reddingswerk hervat. Gisteren verlieten hulpverleners de stad na geruchten over een dreigende overstroming.
quote:China declares national mourning
Bron: BBC News
China has announced three days of mourning for the tens of thousands of victims of Monday's earthquake.
It will begin with a three-minute silence at 1428 (0628 GMT), exactly a week after the quake struck the south-western Sichuan province.
The Olympic torch relay will also be suspended for three days.
The number of confirmed deaths has now risen to 32,477, but officials say the final toll may reach 50,000. More than 220,000 people have been injured.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has expressed gratitude for the international help with relief efforts following the magnitude 7.9 quake.
"I express heartfelt thanks to the foreign governments and international friends," Mr Hu was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Offers of help in the relief effort from home and abroad have now surpassed $860m (£440m), Chinese officials say.
The first aid supplied by the US has arrived, with an air force plane loaded with tents, lanterns and 15,000 meals landing in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.
However, a British rescue team standing by in Hong Kong is returning home after being refused permission to travel to the earthquake zone.
Rescue efforts have resumed in Beichuan, after the city was evacuated amid fears that it could be engulfed by a river bursting its banks.
The city, which lies near the epicentre of the quake, was reduced to ruins.
Aftershocks
Three giant pandas are missing from the Wolong Nature Reserve, Xinhua reports. All the pandas at the reserve were initially reported safe.
There are still stories of survivors being pulled from the rubble.
One man who was rescued on Sunday, Tang Xiong, had only had slight bruises and was conscious when he was rescued in Beichuan county 139 hours after the quake, Xinhua said.
A 53-year-old man was pulled from the rubble in the town of Yingxiu in Wenchuan county after surviving for 148 hours, state media said.
Rescue workers worked for eight hours to save him.
The region shuddered again as a strong aftershock - measured by the US Geological Survey at 6.0 - struck at 0108 on Sunday (1508 GMT Saturday).
There have been hundreds of aftershocks, some causing landslides. Rescue work has also been hampered by heavy rain in some areas.
The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort. It released figures on Saturday demonstrating the scale of the operation.
It said 220,109 people had been recorded injured, not just in Sichuan, but in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, Henan, and Guizhou provinces.
It said some 181,460 tents, 220,000 quilts, and 170,000 cotton-padded garments had been despatched to the disaster zone.
More than 10,600 people are believed to be still trapped, Xinhua said, citing regional officials
Rescue teams from South Korea, Singapore and Russia have joined Japanese and Taiwanese experts taking part in the search.
The specialist teams are equipped with sniffer dogs, and fibre-optic cameras and heat sensors to detect people buried under the rubble.
But experts say the chances of finding people alive are diminishing.
Nuclear facilities in the affected area have been confirmed to be safe, the ministry of environmental protection's Nuclear Safety Department said, Xinhua has reported.
China has a research reactor, two nuclear fuel production sites and two nuclear weapon facilities in Sichuan, all between 60-145km (40-90 miles) from the epicentre, according to the French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety.
Ik zat het net te bekijken. De OP is een compliment waard!quote:Op zondag 18 mei 2008 17:40 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:
OP overigens ook weer geüpdate met o.a. beelden
voor bewegende beelden zie: http://www.knack.be/cmp/72/19/17442/-article.html (al willen ze hier op het moment niet ladenquote:Aardbevingen voorspellen blijft moeilijk
22 mei 2008
Een Taiwanese satelliet merkte de avond voor de aardbeving in China dat de ionosferische dichtheid boven Sichuan gedaald was. Specifiek ging het om een gebied van zowat 1000 vierkante kilometer rond Wenchuan, het epicentrum van de beving.
De kunstmaan Formosa 3 zag hoe het aantal geladen deeltjes in de lucht gehalveerd werd aan de vooravond van de uitbarsting.
De Formosa-3 is in 2006 gelanceerd en heeft sindsdien de ionosferische dichtheid bij 63 aardbevingen gemeten. In 70 procent van de gevallen was er een scherpe daling van die dichtheid te merken voor een aardschok.
Kleurige wolken
Een andere theorie om aardbevingen te voorspellen is die van de gekleurde wolken. Op Youtube en Liveleak zijn er een aantal filmpjes te vinden waarop er een kleurenzweem in de lucht hangt, kort voor de Chinese aardschok.
Professor Zhonghao Shou, een Chinese chemicus beweert aardbevingen te kunnen voorspellen aan de hand van wolken.
Ondergrondse wrijvingen en spanningen zorgen volgens Zhonghao Shou voor een snellere verdamping van het grondwater. Daardoor wordt de vorm en kleur van wolken anders waardoor de Chinese chemicus zou weten wat er gaat komen. Zijn waarnemingen zouden in 70% van de gevallen accuraat zijn.
Twijfelachtig
De chemicus onderscheidt 5 verschillende gevaarlijke types, waaronder wolken die er uitzien als een veer, een lijn of een lantaarn. Het is voorlopig nog niet duidelijk of zijn theorie ook klopt.
Het valt in ieder geval op dat beide theorieën een accuraatheid van 70 procent claimen.
quote:Aardbeving China verwoest 5,5 miljoen gebouwen
PEKING (ANP) - De aardbeving die op 12 mei de Chinese provincie Sichuan trof heeft bijna 5,5 miljoen gebouwen verwoest. Dat meldde een regeringsfunctionaris vrijdag toen hij een gedetailleerd overzicht van de schade gaf.
Het aantal doden door een van de zwaarste aardbevingen in decennia is inmiddels opgelopen tot 55.239, aldus de vicegouverneur van Sichuna Li Chengyun. Bijna 25.000 mensen gelden als vermist. Ruim 280.000 personen raakten gewond.
quote:Zware naschok in China
CHENGDU/PEKING - Een zware naschok heeft zondag de Chinese provincie Sichuan opgeschrikt. De beving had een kracht van 6,4 op de schaal van Richter, volgens de plaatselijke autoriteiten in Sichuan. Bij deze hevige naschok vielen slachtoffers.
De staatstelevisie meldde een dode en circa vierhonderd gewonden.
De beving verwoestte voorts naar schatting 70.000 huizen die mogelijk door eerdere schokken waren verzwakt. Er waren meer dan negentig naschokken in het rampgebied in het zuidelijk deel van centraal China.
Doden
Door de zware aardbeving van maandag 12 mei vielen zeker 62.664 doden. De regering in Peking meldde zondag voorts dat er nog 23.775 mensen worden vermist.
Vrijdag werd nog een levende uit het puin bevrijd. Deze 80-jarige man had 266 uur of meer dan elf dagen in het puin bekneld gezeten.
quote:China laat aardbevingsmeer leeglopen
Gepubliceerd: 26 mei 2008 09:37 | Gewijzigd: 26 mei 2008 09:57
Peking, 26 mei. Ongeveer 1800 politiemannen en militairen met ieder 10 kilo dynamiet bij zich gaan in het rampgebied in China een grote opeenhoping opblazen die miljoenen kubieke meters water van het Tangjiashanmeer tegenhoudt. Dat meldden Chinese staatsmedia maandag.
Door de aardbeving die het land op 12 mei trof zijn door aardverschuivingen rivieren geblokkeerd, waardoor het water niet weg kan stromen. Op tientallen plaatsen zijn zo nieuwe meren ontstaan, die een gevaar vormen voor lager gelegen gebieden.
Als de barrière die het water in het Tangjiashanmeer houdt niet gecontroleerd wordt opgeblazen maar plotseling barst, kan dat volgens de autoriteiten een grote watersnoodramp tot gevolg hebben. Duizenden mensen zijn uit het gebied geëvacueerd.
Of de meren ruimen de mens opquote:Op maandag 26 mei 2008 10:28 schreef indahnesia.com het volgende:
nieuwe meren onstaan en verdwijnen door de geschiedenis heen, en nu gaat de mens ze eventjes opruimen. Tja..
De meren hebben al van zich gesproken, dan kan China nog zo veel zeggen....quote:Op maandag 26 mei 2008 12:38 schreef indahnesia.com het volgende:
[..]
goed punt, maar als China wat zegt kun je erop rekenen dat het ook gebeurd....
Chinezen tellen (lijken) niet helemaal eerlijk, wordt wel eens beweerd. geen bron beschikbaarquote:Op dinsdag 27 mei 2008 02:59 schreef indahnesia.com het volgende:
moah, de meren liggen er toch nog?
moah, dat is een algemeen aanvaarde stelregel volgens mijquote:Op dinsdag 27 mei 200813:47 schreef okee6 het volgende:
[..]
Chinezen tellen (lijken) niet helemaal eerlijk, wordt wel eens beweerd. geen bron beschikbaar
quote:Aftershocks demolish China homes
Two aftershocks have destroyed about 420,000 houses in the Chinese region hit by an earthquake two weeks ago, the official Xinhua agency says.
One of the aftershocks, in Qingchuan county, measured magnitude 5.7, according to the US Geological Survey.
The official death toll from the earthquake that hit Sichuan province on 12 May is 67,183. Another 20,790 people are listed as missing.
There were no reported causalities from the latest aftershocks, Xinhua said.
On Sunday 300,000 more homes were wrecked in Qingchuan by a strong tremor, which killed eight people and injured hundreds.
More than five million people remain homeless since the 12 May quake.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10513863quote:China Govt admits quake blame
Victims of China's earthquake have received the first public acknowledgement of Government culpability.
Lin Qiang, the deputy head of Sichuan education bureau, a senior official, spoke of his feelings of guilt for the deaths of thousands of children in poorly built schools and called on fellow officials to accept responsibility for schools which had collapsed because of shoddy workmanship.
quote:Naschok
De aarde schokt ondertussen nog steeds in de regio. Zondag veroorzaakte een schok met een kracht van 6,0 op de Richterschaal grote paniek in een deel van de provincie Sichuan. Voorts meldden media dat veel reddingswerkers het slachtoffer zijn geworden van aardverschuivingen. Die hebben ook tal van rivieren geblokkeerd, waardoor in het rampgebied nieuwe meren zijn ontstaan. Zeker drie van die meren zijn al overstroomd.
quote:Water in lake rising too fast!
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Fears were mounting Monday for the safety of more than a million people downstream from a "quake lake" in China as waters threatening to burst a dam of landslide rubble were rising faster than engineers could drain them.
Authorities are concerned the Jianjiang River will top the dam unless efforts to dig and blast out emergency draining channels can drastically decrease the water level.
But engineers also risk letting out too much water at one time, which could also trigger a collapse of the dam created by a 7.9 magnitude quake that devasted China's Sichuan province.
"Increasing the outflow of water is critical for the dam's safety," said Zhang Ting, head of the Sichuan provincial hydro-meteorological bureau, the Xinhua news agency reported.
"If the water flows too slowly, the inflow will increase the pressure on the dam. But again, too voluminous an outflow can erode the diversion channel and cause the dam to collapse."
Water is flowing into the lake more than four times faster than it's flowing out, Zhang said
A 475-meter-long (1,560 foot-long) spillway for the water was completed more than a week ago, but engineers enlarged it over the weekend to increase the flow.
Chinese security forces have since dug a second channel and are working on a third, said Liu Yongjian, an army officer in charge of the work, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The so-called Tangjiashan quake lake formed after last month's devastating quake. Tons of rock and soil slid off a hillside, blocking the river.
Aftershocks continue to pepper the devastated region.
A pair of magnitude 5.0 quakes have rattled eastern Sichuan province over the last 24 hours.
Officials are concerned the building water pressure combined with the aftershocks could destablize the dam and send billions of gallons of water cascading down the river valley. Heavy rainfall could also strain the dam.
It could threaten up to 1.3 million people downstream. More than 250,000 people already have been been evacuated, Xinhua reported.
More than 69,000 people died in the May 12 quake, but more than 17,000 remain missing, according to the official government toll.
quote:China Earthquake Was Rare Type
LiveScience.com Mon Jun 30, 12:46 PM ET
The major earthquake that devastated China last month was something of a seismological oddity, seismologists report in a new analysis. The faults that caused the temblor rarely rumble.
More than 69,000 people are confirmed to have died from the magnitude 7.9 quake that struck China's Sichuan province around noon on May 12, leveling school buildings and other poorly-constructed structures.
The earthquake was also a complete surprise to scientists. MIT seismologists who had been operating an array of 25 seismograph stations in the region for more than a year had found no hints that a large temblor might hit.
"Nobody was thinking there would be a major seismological event," in that area, said MIT's Leigh Royden. "This earthquake was quite unusual."
The region is extremely unusual geographically, Royden said, because of the very steep slopes at the boundary between the Sichuan Basin to the east and the Tibetan Plateau to the west. The elevation rises by more than two miles (about 3.5 kilometers) in a span of just 30 miles (50 kilometers).
The area is at the boundary between the Indian and Asian tectonic plates, which are engaged in an ongoing collision that has created the Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau.
In central and eastern Tibet, unlike most other areas where two continental plates are colliding, the movement of the crust is hidden. Instead of folding and faulting, the surface of the eastern Tibetan plateau is undeformed and being lifted upward by the thickening of a weak crustal layer more than 9 miles (15 km) below the surface.
The crust in this layer is flowing rapidly eastward away from central Tibet. But in the area where the earthquake occurred, it is obstructed by a major obstacle, the Sichuan Basin.
"The crust and mantle beneath the basin appears to form a hard, cold knot," Royden said, which forces the flow to "wrap around the knot." The huge elevation differences between the surface of the plateau and the Sichuan Basin provided the underlying stress that led to the quake, she added.
Similar events in the area occur only once in every 2,000 to 10,000 years on average, the researchers say, though they caution that because earthquakes can sometimes occur in clusters, residents and officials should still be wary of another possible large-scale earthquake.
The new analysis is detailed in the July issue of GSA Today, a publication of the Geological Society of America. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
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