China quake victims' second night in cold
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Your support makes all the difference.Chinese rescue teams struggled against altitude sickness yesterday to try to find survivors of the earthquake on the Tibetan plateau that left more than 600 dead and forced thousands of people to spend a second night outside in freezing weather.
The search focused on a number of collapsed schools in the remote area that were flattened by the series of powerful quakes early on Wednesday. Authorities sent thousands of troops and doctors, tents, medical supplies and equipment to help with the effort.
At least 66 students and 10 teachers died in the quake after 70 per cent of schools in the quake zone collapsed, authorities said. Three schools accounted for most of the dead, with 32 pupils at one primary school and 22 at the Yushu Vocational School, 20 of them girls, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The state broadcaster CCTV showed footage of anxious parents watching the rescue efforts. Thousands of students were among the dead in the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, which left nearly 90,000 dead or missing, when their schools collapsed because of shoddy construction work linked to corruption.
By early yesterday, rescuers had taken 1,000 people from the rubble, according to state media. A group of workers found a girl trapped for more than 12 hours. Premier Wen Jiabao flew into the area last night to inspect rescue efforts.
Wednesday's early-morning quakes, the strongest measuring 6.9 magnitude, flattened buildings made in traditional Tibetan style from mud and wood as well as modern concrete structures across remote western Yushu county. Many of the survivors spent the night outdoors, with a large number gathering on a field used for horse races as temperatures fell below freezing and aftershocks continued.
"This feels like a war zone. It's a complete mess. At night, people were crying and shouting," Ren Yu, general manager of Yushu Hotel in Jiegu, told Xinhua. "Some of the people have broken legs or arms but all they can get now is an injection. They were crying in pain."
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