China falls silent to honor victims of earthquake
WENCHUAN, China — China stood still today in mourning over tens of thousands of earthquake victims, and the government appealed for more international aid to cope with the country's deadliest disaster in a generation.
Construction workers, shopkeepers and bureaucrats across the bustling nation of 1.3 billion people paused for three minutes at 2:28 p.m. — 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 dead.
In Beijing's Tiananmen Square, thousands of people bowed their heads and then began shouting "Long Live China!" and thrusting their fists in the air. Traffic on the capital's highways and roads stopped, and some drivers got out of their cars.
The confirmed death toll from the May 12 quake rose to 34,073, the State Council, China's Cabinet, said today. Another 9,500 remained buried in Sichuan and more than 29,000 were missing, the provincial government said, according to Xinhua.
Officials have said they expect the final death toll to exceed 50,000, with more than 245,000 reported as injured. Quake-related losses to companies totaled $9.5 billion, Deputy Industry Minister Xi Guohua said.
In an indication of the challenge in dealing with millions of homeless and injured survivors, China said it would accept foreign medical teams and issued 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," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement, also thanking the international community for its help so far.
In the disaster area, more than 200 relief workers were reported buried over the past three days by mudslides while working to repair roads in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.
An official confirmed mudslides had caused some deaths but gave no details.
More potential landslides were predicted by the Central Meteorological Observatory, with heavy rains forecast this week for some areas close to the epicenter.
A magnitude 5.4 aftershock this afternoon damaged the only road leading out of Qingchuan, a town near the epicenter, and repairs were under way, Xinhua reported. There were no known casualties from the tremor.
Meanwhile, 14 Taiwanese escaped a massive landslide in Sichuan. They were located by authorities using satellite positioning data from the group's tour bus on Friday, Chinese authorities said, and were set to head home today.
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 today. There was no information on casualties.
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.
Rescuers also briefly halted work in the disaster zone, where the hunt for survivors turned glum despite remarkable survival tales among thousands buried. Two women were rescued today after being trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building at a coal mine in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.
A convoy of police cars, ambulances and other rescue vehicles let off a long blast from their horns as the workers in orange jumpsuits stood quietly with eyes downcast, some removing their white hard hats.
"Our hearts are so heavy, so many of our compatriots are dead," said rescuer Ma Tang Chuan. "As long as we try our best, we have some small hope."
