_|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_ (50 000 deaths)

[Giuseppe]

URGENT: Sichuan quake death toll rises to 8,533
2008-05-12 23:37:24

CHENGDU, May 12 (Xinhua) --

The death toll from Monday's earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province has climbed to 8,533, according to local authorities.

The figure climbed from 7,651 provided earlier Monday night by the temporary headquarters for disaster relief headed by Premier Wen Jiabao in Sichuan.

Sources with the headquarters said casualties are being tallied in other areas affected by the massive quake, and detailed information is being collected on the damage.

The number of casualties is expected to rise as further destruction is reported.

Authorities are yet to reach Wenchuan County, which sits at the epicenter of the earthquake with a population of about 112,000.

In Beichuan County, close to Wenchuan, the number of deaths is estimated at more than 3,000, as 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed by the quakes.

Li Chongxi, deputy secretary of Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, led a rescue team to Wenchuan, but was stranded at Dujiangyan City.

"We are doing everything we can, but the roads are blanketed with rocks and boulders," Li said.

Rescuers were clearing the debris to reach the quake-hit sites as quickly as possible, he said. Telecommunications links to the county had also been cut.


Editor: Mu Xuequan
-
http://rss.xinhuanet.com/newsc/english/2008-05/12/content_8155166.htm
-------

 

[Sunshine123]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Earthquake in China's Sichuan Province kills more than 7,600
By Jon Nones
12 May 2008 at 11:31 AM
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=42691

State-run news agency Xinhua reports the official toll had risen to 7,651 in Sichuan Province after a Monday earthquake. The Sichuan provincial disaster relief headquarters said 80% of the buildings collapsed in the Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County after the 7.8-magnitude quake.

Sichuan Province is one of the most fertile and agriculturally important areas in China -one of the breadbaskets the country. Meat production, 85% of it pork, is the largest, while the production of rapeseed, fiber crops, citrus fruits, rice and walnuts are in the top five. Sichuan also has an abundance of natural gas.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

China quake victims brace for rainy, cold night
13 May 2008 06:48:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ben Blanchard
DUJIANGYAN, China, May 13 (Reuters) -

Huddled inside buses and under makeshift tents, survivors of China's earthquake sought shelter from the rain and cold on Tuesday as aid agencies warned that the most urgent risk they faced was exposure.

Nearly 10,000 people were killed by the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hammered China's southwestern province of Sichuan. The epicentre was in Wenchuan, a hilly county about 100 km (62 miles) from the provincial capital, Chengdu.

"The disaster is in mountainous areas. In the mornings and evenings, it can get very cold or just a few degrees (Celsius), so shelter is very important," said Rhea Leung of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Hong Kong.

"We are most concerned about shelter ... China Red Cross has supplied tents and blankets to some of the disaster areas," Leung said, as she appealed for more donations.

Some 1,300 rescue and relief troops arrived for the first time at Wenchuan county, the epicentre, and started operations in the rain, Xinhua news agency said.

In Dujiangyan, a city midway between Chengdu and the epicentre, mangled bodies could be seen lying on the streets covered in blue tarpaulin.

Doctors at a small hospital were treating patients outside the building.

Structures that have not collapsed were evacuated as residents remained on the streets, fearing aftershocks.

A witness said it had been raining all day.

"It's around 17 degrees (Celsius, about 63 fahrenheit), it's very wet, people are using tents provided by the government. But most are using some ad hoc stuff (for shelter)," a Reuters correspondent said.

"People are sheltering in buses. They are not allowed in buildings because many are damaged. People are on the streets, which look like refugee camps. Some are trying to leave."

Another hospital, which had a wing destroyed, did not appear to be functioning.

"We can't do anything any more about the immediate deaths from the quake. Exposure is the most serious problem now because it can get really cold at night," said Lo Winglok, a leading medical doctor in Hong Kong.

"People need immediate shelter. Then we need to see how badly damaged are water supplies, as that could bring on diarrhoea."

Aid agencies such as Medecins Sans Frontier (MSF) and the IFRC have sent teams to Sichuan to assess what items were most urgently needed, but access was proving to be difficult.

"We have sent a team of two doctors and a logistics expert but we don't know if they have arrived in Sichuan as communications and transportation have been disrupted," said MSF's Gloria Hoo in Hong Kong.
(Writing by Tan Ee Lyn; Editing by Nick Macfie)

-
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK207947.htm
------

 

[gsgs]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

weather forecast for Dujiangyan (600000 people):

Wenchuan:
http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/cgi-...ID=56183fa8f4f9c64ca1b5934860d31e7f30099&ID=8



population of Wenchuan,Li Xian and Mao Xian is about 500000 in total AFAIR


the same could have happened in winter...

 

[gsgs]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

3629 dead, 18000 under debris in Mianyang

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/13/content_8162307.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mianyang

the city of Mianyang has a population of 600000 and has the same distance
from the quake-center as Chengdu with a population of 6M

Mianyang region has 5M

 

[wdcare]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

France's radiation protection authority has published an analysis of the possible effects of the earthquake that occured on 12 May in China's Sichuan province on nuclear plants.

Article here:
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Analysis_of_Chengdu_earthquake_1405081.html

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Hat Tip to wdcare

Analysis of Chengdu earthquake
14 May 2008​

France's radiation protection authority has published an analysis of the possible effects of the earthquake that occured on 12 May in China's Sichuan province on nuclear plants.

A document posted by the Institut de Radioprotection et de S?ret? Nucl?aire (Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, IRSN) on its website describes the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck on 12 May at 2.28pm.

Its epicentre was 80 km northwest of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.

The violent tremors caused devastation and huge loss of life. In an area of Minyang prefecture around 80% of homes were destroyed, while 1000 people died at once when a college collapsed. Overall, some 12,000 people are thought to have been killed, while around 18,000 are still missing.

In the city of Shifang, two chemical plants collapsed and spread more than 80 tonnes of ammonia into the environment, according to the Chinese government's Xinhua news agency.

An official spokesman said that the Three Gorges Dam, 600 km away from Chengdu, was not damaged while the Chinese State Grid Corporation said the load on the grid dropped by 5500 MWe as blackouts occurred in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces.

The earthquake relative to Tianwan, Qinshan, Daya Bay, Ling Ao and
assorted non-power-generating nuclear facilities (Source: IRSN)

China's four nuclear power sites, Tianwan, Qinshan, Daya Bay and Ling Ao, were all between 1400 and 1500 km from the earthquake's epicentre.

IRSN's analysis of US Geological Survey data shows those sites would not have experienced ground acceleration rates of more than 20 cm/s2.

IRSN said, "It is likely that these reactors have not suffered significant damage," although confimation of this at the end of inspections has not yet come.

However, several research reactors and nuclear fuel manufacturing sites were much closer to the earthquake - including some less than 100 km away from the epicentre. IRSN said: "Given the sharp acceleration observed 70 km from the epicentre (250 cm/s2), it is not possible at this stage to rule out that these facilities have been subjected to damage."

Nuclear power plants are among the most robust structures in the world, featuring heavy reinforced concrete construction. Each plant is certified to withstand certain ground acceleration rates with no significant damage, while maintaining nuclear safety during significantly greater rates of motion.

In July 2007 Japan's Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant was shaken by an earthquake with effects between those two standards. The seven reactors on site all remained safe, but suffered widespread light damage. Checks to those units are ongoing.

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Analysis_of_Chengdu_earthquake_1405081.html

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Quake Town Threatened By Cracking Dam
Updated:02:25, Thursday May 15, 2008

Chinese troops have rushed to plug "extremely dangerous" cracks in a dam wall, upriver from the earthquake-devastated town of Dujiangyan.​

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1315944,00.html​

The state-run news agency Xinhua said that 2,000 troops had been sent to work on the Zipingku Dam in Sichuan province.

Speaking from Dujiangyan, Sky's China correspondent Peter Sharp said many local people seemed unaware of the threat.

"It (the dam) is only five kilometres away, we are downstream of it," he said.

"We understand that some of the People's Liberation Army troops that are deployed here helping with the rescue operation... 2,000 of them [have been moved] upriver to seal some serious cracks in the dam wall."

In a separate report, Xinhua said Dujiangyan would be "swamped" if there was major problems at the dam.

It reported that the water resources ministry had set-up an emergency command centre at the dam "to discharge the reservoir's rising waters and guarantee that the damage posed no threat to Dujiangyan and the neighbouring Chengdu Plain."

The discovery comes as more rescuers reach Sichuan to speed up the search for survivors.

Officials fear that time is running out for thousands still buried under rubble.

The government dispatched 54,000 troops to the southwestern region to dig for victims as the national death toll from Monday's 7.9-magnitude tremor climbed to nearly 15,000.

Xinhua said more than 14,000 people were still missing and nearly 26,000 people had been buried.

Earlier, it reported that at least 7,700 people had died in one of the small towns worst hit by the disaster.

Survivors at the rural epicentre of the quake have finally begun to receive vital aid as China's army made its first airdrops of food in the stricken region.

The destruction around the epicentre in the remote county of Wenchuan is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and buildings flattened.

Rescue teams have been seen pulling bodies and badly-injured survivors out of the ruins of schools, factories, hospitals and houses.

In towns and villages across a swathe of Sichuan, grief-stricken families are still searching for missing loved ones.

Others are wandering the streets looking for shelter, clothes and food.

In the city of Mianzhu, where at least 3,000 died, rescuers pick through twisted metal and concrete trying to find people, whose voices can be heard coming from the rubble.

More rain is forecast for later this week, which would raise the risk of new landslides in the mountainous region.

:: Unconfirmed reports also say a group of 15 British tourists may be among those trapped following the quake.

 

[mixin]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

GenoMed offers its patented treatment to Chinese earthquake victims

GenoMed has announced that it has offered its treatment to physicians caring for victims of the recent earthquake in China.
Currently, some 10,000 people are believed still trapped under collapsed buildings. Crush injury can cause acute kidney failure. Normally, dialysis is required until kidney function recovers days to weeks later. Some patients may require dialysis indefinitely. In an earthquake, electricity, clean water, and dialysis supplies are hard to come by.

GenoMed was awarded a US Patent (number 6,998,404) to use an existing drug to restore kidney function and avoid dialysis in the setting of acute kidney failure. The drug is infused intravenously. It may even work as an oral tablet. GenoMed is offering its treatment free of charge.

Dr. David Moskowitz, GenoMed's Chairman and CEO, said, "We believe our treatment will work in crush injury, just as it has worked for other causes of acute kidney failure. We have seen restoration of kidney function within hours in the hospital setting. This is significant, since acute kidney failure greatly increases the risk of dying, as well as the cost of hospitalization. If we can restore kidney function rapidly in earthquake victims, they will have a better survival rate, and will be less likely to require long-term dialysis."

Dr. Moskowitz continued, "Given that school-children are still trapped in the rubble, and at increasing risk for crush injury syndrome, it is reassuring to know that our treatment has already been used safely among the most vulnerable children: infants in a Neonatal ICU."

http://www.genomed.com
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=38343

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Nota: There are about 650 000 people in Dujiangyan.

Snowy

 

[gsgs]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

this is all pretty meaningless, unless we had estimates of the damage from
a broken dam, a damage to a nuclear plant.
What's the threshold in probability where reporters would say "it can be ruled out" ?
5% ? 1% ? 0.1% ?

It's so apparant that the used language is uneffective, not very informative.
I'll try an estimate of 50000 deaths as final number and $50B damage

It's pretty clear that this will lead to fewer money for birdflu measures



the 650000 in Duijangyan could/should/would be evacuated
if the dam breaks ?

 

[Snowy Owl]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_

Page last updated at 11:34 GMT, Thursday, 15 May 2008 12:34 UK

China quake toll 'to top 50,000'​

More than 50,000 people may have died in the earthquake that devastated parts of China on Monday, state media says.​

The warning came after the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 19,500, as rescue efforts continue to search for thousands still trapped.

About 10 million people across Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake, state media said.

China is mobilising 30,000 extra troops to Sichuan to help the 50,000 already involved in rescue efforts.

China says it will accept foreign aid and has agreed to help from rescue teams from Japan and its rival Taiwan.

Correspondents say the death toll, which rose from 14,866 on Wednesday, is expected to rise further as rescue workers dig more victims out of collapsed buildings.

People are still being pulled out alive - a three-year-old girl and a pregnant woman were both found alive on Wednesday.

Desperate search

The BBC's James Reynolds, in Hanwang, says rescuers and relatives of those trapped reject suggestions time has run out for finding survivors alive.

At Juyuan Middle School, near Dujiangyan about 50km (32 miles) from the epicentre, 900 children were trapped in the rubble. Parents frantically pull away the debris from the ruins.

"It's not that we don't trust the rescuers," local resident Deng Yuehong told Associated Press Television on Thursday.

Life in tent city

"They have done a lot of work to search for survivors but they couldn't search all the places in such a large area here and there may be some places that they ignored.

"We just want to have another try to see if there are any bodies of school children buried here."

The Chinese government has appealed to the public to donate basic equipment to help in the rescue operation. It said hammers, cranes, shovels and rubber boats were urgently needed.

The health ministry says there will also be an increasing demand for medicines and sophisticated medical equipment as the rescue operations continue and survivors are treated for injuries such as bone fractures, crushed internal organs and kidney failure.

More than 10,000 medical workers, police and volunteers have been sent to Beichuan County, one of the hardest-hit areas in Sichuan province, where up to 5,000 are thought to have died.

Appeal

Deputy health minister Gao Qiang says more than 64,040 people have been treated since Monday's earthquake - 12,587 of them are seriously injured, Xinhua reports.

RECENT CHINA QUAKES
March, 2008: 7.2 quake in Xinjiang - damage limited
February 2003: 6.8 quake in Xinjiang - at least 94 dead, 200 hurt
January 1998: 6.2 quake in rural Hebei - at least 47 dead, 2,000 hurt
April 1997: 6.6 quake hits Xinjiang - 9 dead, 60 hurt
January 1997: 6.4 quake in Xinjiang - 50 dead, 40 hurt

How earthquakes happen

History of deadly earthquakes

Officials say about 10 million people have been affected by the quake, many are in refugee camps, without proper shelter, food or clean water.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have issued an emergency appeal for medical help, food, water and tents.

Gu Qinghui, a member of the Red Cross assessment team told AP television: "I just came back from Beichuan County this morning, basically the whole county has been destroyed, there is no Beichuan County anymore.
"No one knows what has happened in particular areas, in the villages. I am sure that the numbers (death tolls) will just go up continuing day by day."

Olympic tribute

Tonnes of aid has been dropped from aircraft into isolated or inaccessible places in the province.

Chinese soldiers parachute into the quake-hit zone

China says its contributions to the relief effort, in both cash and goods to the quake-hit areas, had risen to 1.34bn yuan ($192m).

Members of the public have also donated millions of yuan in both cash and goods.

Organisers of the Beijing Olympics say a minute's silence will be held at each stage of the torch relay, which is making its way through China.

Donation points are being set up along the route. It was due to leave Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province on Thursday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7402460.stm

 

[gsgs]

Re: _|CHINA, SICHUAN EARTHQUAKE: UPDATES|_ (50 000 deaths)

thanks to Xinhua for the estimate

it seems that the Chinese government is eager to give a positive image
of their efforts to the world before the Olympics.

I've read several praises of their measures now. Although no
uncensored ones.