China races to bury quake dead, manage survivors

SHIFANG, China (Reuters) - China struggled on Friday tobury the dead and offer relief to those left injured, homelessand without food and water by the earthquake that may havekilled more than 50,000 people.

From the heart of the disaster zone in the southwesternprovince of Sichuan, where the 7.9 magnitude quake struck onMonday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged rescuers on, but hopeswere fading for those still trapped under rubble.

"Saving lives is still our top priority as long as hope ofsurvival still exists," the official Xinhua news agency quotedWen as saying.

President Hu Jintao headed to Sichuan early on Friday "toconsole the victims and inspect the rescue and relief work,"the Xinhua news agency said. It will be his first trip to theregion since the disaster struck.

Wen also repeated calls from the Communist Party leadershipto ensure social stability as frustration and exhaustion growsamong survivors, many of whom have lost everything and areliving in makeshift tents or in the open air.

About 20,000 are confirmed dead from the quake and at leastanother 25,000 remain buried, officials said.

In the Sichuan town of Yingxiu, where bodies were lined upalong the river bank, a Communist Party official warned thatepidemics could break out if bodies were not soon buried orcremated.

"We are in urgent need of body bags," the official, BaiLicheng, told Xinhua.

"Air-dropped food and drinking water are limited and farfrom meeting the demand," he added.

The Ministry of Health issued a notice ordering bodies tobe cleaned where they were found and buried as soon aspossible, far from water sources and downwind from populatedareas.

More than 3,000 soldiers were racing the clock to searchfor survivors in Yingxiu, a township of about 6,600 people.

Bai said bodies were still trapped in the debris andblocked roads meant that heavy lifting gear could not getthrough.

China has mobilised 130,000 army and paramilitary troops tothe disaster area, but the quake buckled roads and triggeredmountain landslides, meaning that relief supplies and rescuershave struggled to reach the worst-hit areas.

STRUGGLING TO COPE

In the town of Shifang, a small hospital struggled to copewith injured patients, who were being treated in any spaceavailable -- including a under a covered car park at the backof the building and under tents on the pavement.

Doctors and nurses rushed around, checking dressings,changing saline drips and administering to the wounded.

"We've seen nobody come here from the government," said onewoman, tending to her injured son.

"They're trying to help, but they've been so busy," added ayoung man standing next to her. "In Mianzhu alone there'sthousands dead," he said, referring to a nearby area.

Hundreds of damaged dams have also raised fears of collapseor flooding that could inundate towns and cities that arealready struggling to recover from the quake.

China has asked the United States for satellite images tohelp locate victims and identify damaged infrastructure. InSichuan and neighbouring Chongqing, at least 17 reservoirs havebeen damaged, some dams have cracked or are leaking water, andofficials have warned the full extent of the hazard was as yetunclear.

China was also accepting foreign help to bolster rescueefforts in the disaster, the deadliest since more than 240,000people were killed in a 1976 earthquake in the northeasternChinese city of Tangshan.

The first foreign rescue team, a group from about 60 peoplefrom Japan, also reached Sichuan on Friday. China has acceptedfurther offers of rescue teams from Russia, South Korea andSingapore, the Foreign Ministry said.

In the epicentre, Wenchuan, Chinese air forces succeededfor the first time on Thursday in dropping equipment, Xinhuasaid, citing military sources. Such airdrops had earlier beenstymied by heavy rain and cloud cover.

(Writing by Lindsay Beck; Editing by Ken Wills)