CHINA: People flee the earthquake effected area leaving Beichuan as ghost town

Record ID: 605351

  • Title: CHINA: People flee the earthquake effected area leaving Beichuan as ghost town
  • Date: 19th May 2008
  • Summary: RESCUE WORKER SITTING ON STONE ROOSTERS ON SITE ROOSTERS AND RESCUE WORKERS PIG AND ROOSTS PIG LOOKING FOR FOOD ON GROUND PIG LYING UNDER RUBBLE PIG LOOKING FOR FOOD UNDER RUBBLE
  • Embargoed: 3rd June 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA8KWPB9EO94699HBQAEB40SNGJ
  • Story Text: Thousands of residents leave the town of Beichuan while thousands of others remain buried alive under collapsed buildings and landslides.
    Six days after the Monday's (May 12) 7.9 magnitude quake rattled Sichuan province, thousands of residents left the town of Beichuan while thousands of others are still believed to be buried alive under collapsed buildings and landslides. The town now resembles a ghost town.
    Located in a tree-covered mountainous area, Beichuan was a picturesque town, with an aquamarine river flowing nearby. But now landslides caused by the earthquake have made that image a distant memory.
    Authorities worried by the hundreds of aftershocks and the build up of water in blocked rivers are trying prevent people from entering the affected area.
    The Xinhua state news agency said the most dangerous mass of water was only about 2 miles upstream from Beichuan.
    Now, the Beichuan town is almost completely empty, with only a dozen or so residents remaining as they continue scavenging the rubble of their homes.
    One Beichuan resident, known as Mr. Li, remained to search through the rubble for his father
    "What we are doing now is trying to find his body. We don't have any hope that he is still alive, which is nearly impossible," said Mr.
    Li, who was digging through a pile of rocks that was once a clinic that his father was attending when the earthquake struck.
    Like Mr. Li, Chinese army soldiers also remain in the town to search for survivors.
    Standing above a gigantic pile of rubble, Reuters reporters were told that a man could be alive beneath three metres of the rocks.
    Sniffer dogs barked towards the rocks and radar scanner found sings of life.

    "For now, let's just wait and see. We will never give up,"
    said Commander Zou.
    Xinhua state news agency said on Sunday (May 18) the overall death toll stands at nearly 32,500, with some 9,500 people still buried under the rubble in Sichuan, but most are feared dead.
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