By John Ruwitch
HANWANG, China (Reuters) - Fresh aid reached China'searthquake-devastated areas on Thursday but the sheer magnitudeof caring for tens of thousands of homeless, grieving survivorsthreatened to overwhelm relief efforts.
The Communist Party leadership told officials to "ensuresocial stability" as Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake insouth-western Sichuan province spawned rumours of chemicalspills, fears of dam bursts and scenes of collective grief anddesperation.
The official death toll estimate from the quake stood at14,866. But 25,000 remain buried and as search teams sift,often bare-handed, through towns turned to rubble, the numberof dead is likely to climb.
The strains from tens of thousands of homeless are growing.
"There is enough food but not enough water. We have onlyhad bottled mineral water the past few days, nothing to cookwith," said Wang Yujie, a teacher whose school withstood thequake.
Three days after the quake hit, hopes of pulling survivorsfrom crushed homes, schools and factories dimmed and the wavesof rescuers appear to be hampered by lack of specialisedequipment.
But more aid was arriving and efforts at coordination werealso improving, with Sichuan setting up a hotline for victimsand ambulances with Beijing licence plates on the roads.
About 130,000 army and paramilitary troops had reached theprovince by Thursday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
But in some villages near the badly hit area of Beichuan,angry residents complained they had had little to eat and wereforced to drink contaminated water to keep themselves alive.
State radio broadcast messages warning local people not todrink unsafe water and to be patient in waiting for help.
Many are sleeping outside or in makeshift shelters wherethe lack of water and blocked toilets has raised fears ofoutbreaks of diarrhoea and other infectious disease.
DAMAGE TO DAMS EXTENSIVE
And new threats emerged from damaged dams.
Minister for Water Resources, Chen Lei, said such damagewas widespread and sounded far from assured in comments put onthe ministry Web site (www.mwr.gov.cn) on Thursday.
"Especially in Sichuan province, there are many dams,damage from the quake is extensive and the hazards areunclear," Chen said in the speech given to officials a dayearlier.
And the minister blamed more than nature for the dangers.
"Because the management systems of hydro-power stations arenot smooth and information channels are blocked, the extent oftheir damage is unclear," Chen said.
Premier Wen Jiabao, a geologist himself, has made emotionalappeals from the disaster zone urging on workers and comfortingorphaned children. On Thursday he headed for Qingchuan, wherelandslides had blocked the flow of two rivers.
The disaster area is also home to China's chief nuclearweapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretiveatomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.
The China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corpreported that several of its facilities in Sichuan weredamaged.
The report on its website (www.cnecc.com) did not mentionany radiation leaks. A Western expert with knowledge of theMianyang lab said it was not likely the facilities were put atserious risk. He requested anonymity.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party's Standing Committee metlate on Wednesday to assess the calamity that has thrown ashadow over preparations for the Beijing Olympics in August.
TRIUMPH AND GRIEF
Amid the devastation, there were still small triumphs.
Rescuers reached a 62-year-old man after an all-nightsearch, prompting a round of applause from onlookers, who tookpictures with their mobile phones.
A teenaged girl was freed from the rubble of her school,but at the cost of both her legs which doctors had to amputate.
Thirty-three tourists from Britain, the United States andFrance were safely airlifted out of a panda reserve in thearea, but Xinhua said another 893 foreign tourists remainedtrapped in quake-hit areas.
Offers of help were pouring in.
Blood banks in Beijing reached saturation point, with atleast 3,300 people in the capital donating blood in a singleday.
China also welcomed supply flights from rival Taiwan and arelief team from Japan to help rebuild after the quake that isthe worst to hit China since 1976 when up to 300,000 died.
In Dujiangyan city, rescuers wrapped corpses dragged fromthe rubble in tarpaulins and sped them to morgues. They were sobusy that a notice outside one collapsed school asked parentsto search for missing children in shifts.
(Writing by Chris Buckley and Lindsay Beck; Additionalreporting by Ben Blanchard and Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing byNick Macfie and David Fogarty)
