CHINA: Leader flies to quake site as toll tops 1700

Record ID: 1963204

  • Title: CHINA: Leader flies to quake site as toll tops 1700
  • Date: 19th April 2010
  • Summary: YUSHU COUNTY, QINGHAI PROVINCE, CHINA (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (APRIL 18, 2010) (CCTV - NO ACCESS CHINA) VARIOUS OF CHINESE PRESIDENT HU JINTAO SHAKING HANDS WITH QUAKE SURVIVORS VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS CLEARING RUBBLES OF COLLAPSED BUILDING HU TALKING AND MAKING HAND GESTURE RESCUE WORKERS APPLAUDING (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT HU JINTAO SAYING: "We will put our utmost effort to save trapped people. As long as there is a ray of hope, we will enhance our effort by 100 times." TIBETAN MONK APPLAUDING TENTS HU ENTERING TENT AND HOLDING QUAKE SURVIVOR'S HAND BLANKETS AND FOOD SUPPLIES HU TALKING WITH QUAKE SURVIVOR'S FAMILY / HOLDING HAND WITH QUAKE SURVIVOR QUAKE SURVIVOR TALKING TO HU HU TALKING TO CROWD ON AMPLIFIER (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT HU JINTAO SAYING: "We will try our best to let students go back to school as soon as possible. The party and the government will help you." VARIOUS OF CROWDS APPLAUDING INJURED MAN BEING SEATED HU TALKING TO INJURED MAN HU TALKING TO INJURED GIRL GIRL CRYING / LEANING ON HU (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE PRESIDENT HU JINTAO SAYING: "After the bone grows back you arm will return to normal. So don't worry."
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  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA3GMKKX6G7Z4DHV9YA99NDJQZS
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Chinese President Hu Jintao flew to remote and ruined Yushu county to speed relief distribution on Sunday (April 18).
    Hu cut short a visit to South America to fly to the disaster area.
    Hundreds of military trucks, joined by relief convoys organised by private aid groups, rolled across the 1,000 kms (600 miles) from the provincial capital to Gyegu, the county seat, where survivors are increasingly desperate for food and shelter.
    Hu, talking on an amplifier, pledged to relatives of missing people and survivors that they will not give up the rescue effort.
    "We will put our utmost effort to save trapped people. As long as there is a ray of hope, we will enhance our efforts by 100 times," said Hu.
    In the heavily publicised visit, Hu visited survivors and pledged to guarantee daily supplies to them.
    Hu also promised to restore classes for the students from collapsed school building.
    "We will try our best to let students go back to school as soon as possible. The party and the government will help you," said Hu.
    Hu's concern over students continued as he soothed a crying injured girl.
    "After the bone grows back you arm will return to normal. So don't worry," said Hu while holding the girl in his arms.
    He visited a temporary school and reassured students that a new school building will be constructed soon, as he wrote "A new school will be built" on the blackboard.
    In the aftermath of the deadly earthquake, schoolbags strewn in courtyards and a blackboard hanging incongruously over rubble have once again put the safety of china's schools in question.
    Most of the schoolchildren in Gyegun, a wind-swept town deep in the Tibetan plateau, were able to run out of their classrooms before the buildings collapsed.
    An August 2009 audit on school safety conducted by Qinghai Province found few of the 60 percent of schools built before 2000 met earthquake safety standards. Some of those built after that date were also inadequate.
    The latest death toll from Wednesday's (April 14) 6.9 magnitude quake soared to 1,706 with hundreds of homes, schools and Tibetan monasteries destroyed.
    The Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Saturday asked Beijing if he could visit the site to comfort the victims. He has not returned to China since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising, and is unlikely to get permission to go.
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