|
|
Monday, May 19, 2008
China begins 3 days of national mourning for quake victims (3:21 p.m.)
BEICHUAN, China -- China stood still and sirens wailed Monday to mourn the country's tens of thousands of earthquake victims.
While 1.3 billion citizens came to a halt for three minutes at 2:28 p.m. (0628 GMT) - exactly one week after the magnitude 7.9 quake hit central China - air-raid sirens and the horns of cars and buses sounded in memory of the estimated 50,000 dead.
In the disaster area, more than 200 relief workers were reported buried in a mudslide in Sichuan province, where the quake was centered. There were no more details in the report Monday by the official Xinhua News Agency.
The hunt for survivors in the rubble turned glum despite remarkable survival tales among thousands buried. Two women were rescued Monday after being trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building at a coal mine in Sichuan, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
During three days of national mourning ordered by the government, flags were to fly at half-staff and public entertainment was canceled - an unprecedented outpouring of state sympathy on a level normally reserved for dead leaders.
The Olympic torch relay, a potent symbol of national pride in the countdown to August's much-anticipated Beijing games, also was suspended during the mourning period.
In Beijing, during the three minutes of tribute to quake victims, construction workers stood still 23 stories up the frame of a building under construction. Traffic on highways and roads stopped. Some drivers got out of their cars while others blared their horns.
The military was still struggling to reach areas cut off by the earthquake, with more than 10,000 discovered stranded in Yinxiui valley near the epicenter, China National Radio said Monday. There was no information on casualties there, and 600 soldiers were hiking into the area.
In an indication of the massive challenge China faces in housing the millions made homeless by the earthquake, the Foreign Ministry made an international appeal for tents.
"China requests the international community donate tents as a priority when they donate materials because many houses were toppled in the quake and because it is the rainy season," ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement, also thanking the international community for its help so far.
The government order for the mourning period said all Internet entertainment and game sites had to be taken off-line and users redirected to sites dedicated to commemorating earthquake victims, the Chinese news Web portal sina.com said.
China's National Grand Theater will cancel or postpone all performances during the three days, and media reports said numerous bars, nightclubs, karaoke parlors and movie theaters had stopped business beginning at midnight in major cities such as Beijing, Shenyang and Changsha.
The Culture Ministry said in a statement it would carry out inspections to ensure orders for a halt to entertainment during the mourning period were followed.
Trade on China's stock and commodities exchanges was also suspended for the three-minute period of silence, the Securities Regulatory Commission said.
The national flag in Tiananmen Square, solemnly raised every morning at dawn, was flown at half-staff in a ceremony repeatedly broadcast on state television.
Newspapers across China printed their logos in black and some ran entirely without color. Several front pages were covered in black, with simple messages in white text across the middle, "The nation mourns," "Pray for life," and "National tragedy."
The mourning period begins as hope of finding more trapped survivors dwindled, and preventing hunger and disease among the homeless became more pressing.
Hu Yongcui, 38, said she did not care about the official show of mourning as she headed to Beichuan, near the quake's epicenter, to search for her missing 17-year-old daughter.
"I can't feel anything. I have no words," she said. "I just want to go home. I just want to find my daughter."
In a sign the search for survivors was concluding, Japan said it was considering withdrawing rescue crews to be replaced with an expanded medical team because of declining opportunities to use their technology to hunt for trapped victims.
"It's been a week since the earthquake and at this point chances we can make use of our technology is very limited. It's time to think about what to do with our rescue operation," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters, according to Japan's Kyodo News agency.
"There is definitely a need for medical experts, and we can dispatch a team whenever there is a request," he said.
The confirmed death toll stood at 32,476, said the State Council, China's Cabinet, although officials have said the final death toll is expected to surpass 50,000. The injured numbered more than 220,000.
Some rescue efforts continued in Beichuan, where digging at one site where a live victim was believed trapped started early Monday.
Rescuers could see an ear through the rubble and it was not decayed, and there was no smell of death. Still, it was difficult to know if the person was alive, said Xu Xiangqian, a volunteer with the Nantong Red Cross in coastal Jiangsu province.
"We are putting in a 100 percent effort right now to rescue this person," Xu said. (AP) |
|
|
|
