By Chris Buckley
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese convoys carrying food, tents and rescuers snaked along a long road into mountainous Yushu county where survivors huddled through a freezing night after an earthquake killed at least 589 people.
Early pictures showed piles of brick and cinderblocks in the ruined county seat, Jyeku, where Wednesday's 6.9-magnitude quake toppled homes, schools and Tibetan monasteries. More than 10,000 people were injured.
Buses carrying rescue workers and trucks filled with food and medicine rumbled all night through snow and sleet along the 1,000 km-long (620-mile) highway separating Yushu, an ethnically Tibetan region, from the Qinghai provincial capital, Xining.
Local officials had spoken on Wednesday of the urgent need for medicine and shelter in Yushu county, whose 100,000 people are concentrated near the county seat.
"The biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers," Zhuohuaxia, a local spokesman, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Cracks appeared in a dam near the town of Jyeku, Xinhua said on Wednesday, adding repair workers were trying to stabilise the structure and prevent it from bursting and flooding the town.
Survivors had moved to a flat area just outside the country seat and home to the summer horse festival, according to a note from Jinpa Trust, a local Tibetan charity. Some spent the night in cars for warmth, television said.
The main 6.9 quake was centred in the mountains that divide Qinghai province from the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Tibetan plateau is regularly shaken by earthquakes, though casualties are usually minimal because so few people live there.
LEADERSHIP
Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao called on Wednesday for all-out efforts in rescue attempts, and sent Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu to Qinghai to oversee relief work.
Private organisations also rushed to send aid from Xining.
"The extreme poverty of the region should be a reminder of why many in China do not recognise the caricature of the country as an economic superpower that is often painted overseas," London-based Capital Economics said in an emailed statement.
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who was born in Qinghai, said in a statement that he was praying for the victims.
"It is my hope that all possible assistance and relief work will reach these people. I am also exploring how I, too, can contribute to these efforts," said the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of promoting Tibetan independence, but he says he simply wants more meaningful autonomy for Tibet.
Some bridges and roads around Yushu have cracked or been cut off completely, which could complicate rescue efforts, state media said. The airport is open, but the 50-kilometer road connecting it to the county seat was heavily damaged.
For many Chinese, images from Yushu recall the devastating May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, which killed 80,000.
Experience from that rescue effort was evident in the speedy deployment of material after Wednesday's quake, although the freezing temperatures could reduce the chances of survival for those still buried by this quake, and make delivery of shelter more urgent.
In the Sichuan quake, the widespread collapse of school buildings when many other surrounding buildings stayed standing, caused anger and accusations of corruption.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Writing by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Ken Wills and Sanjeev Miglani)
