China plans mourning day as quake toll tops 2,000 - Update

Beijing - China on Tuesday announced plans for a day of mourning for victims of last week's earthquake in a mainly Tibetan area in the north-western province of Qinghai, where the death toll has risen to more than 2,000.

The government said it would hold a national day of mourning on Wednesday with national flags flown at half-staff in Qinghai and a three-minute silence from 10 am (0200 GMT).

Mourning ceremonies were planned in Yushu's county town of Jiegu, the closest large settlement to the epicenter of the quake, and several other locations, the official Xinhua news agency quoted a government notice as saying.

All public entertainment would be suspended in the region Wednesday, the agency said.

Rescue officials said the death toll had risen to 2,046 with 193 people still missing after Wednesday's magnitude-6.9 quake razed 85 per cent of the buildings in Jiegu.

The quake left 12,135 injured, including 1,434 in serious condition, the officials said.

Rescuers pulled out a 68-year-old Tibetan woman and her 4-year-old granddaughter Monday after they had been buried in rubble for more than five days in a village 3 kilometers from the nearest road, the official China Daily newspaper reported.

The newspaper said rescue teams were working in villages further away from Jiegu, where most buildings were destroyed.

More than 11,000 soldiers had joined about 1,500 professional rescue workers and 2,800 firefighters and police specialists in the search for more survivors, said Miao Chonggang, deputy head of the China Earthquake Administration's emergency relief team.

The rescue teams found 6,870 people alive under collapsed buildings by Sunday, and 6,110 had survived, Xinhua quoted Miao as saying.

The earthquake killed 40,879 head of livestock, or about 8 per cent of the area's total, officials said.

The rescue headquarters issued an emergency order Sunday to restrict the entry of people and vehicles into Yushu county after concerns over too many volunteers and individuals trying to transport relief goods.

Snow and near-freezing temperatures were expected to add to the problems faced by survivors this week with the high altitude, electricity shortages and damage to roads already hampering rescue operations.

The government said 25,000 tents and more than 50,000 quilts had arrived by Sunday in Yushu for the up to 100,000 people left homeless after the quake.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319601,china-plans-mourning-day-as-quake-toll-tops-2000--update.html.