By Lucy Hornby
PINGTONG, China (Reuters) - From tent cities in Sichuanprovince to Beijing's Tiananmen Square, sirens wailed andmillions of Chinese stood for three minutes on Monday to mournthe tens of thousands who died in last week's earthquake.
The moment of grief was observed across the vast country of1.3 billion people at 2:28 p.m., exactly a week after the 7.9magnitude quake that ravaged the southwestern province ofSichuan.
"I think the three minutes was important because it meansthat everyone, from the central government down to everyindividual, is thinking of us. Because this is worse than awar," said He Ling, a policeman in Pingtong town, which wasalmost totally wrecked by the earthquake.
Even as the rescuers stopped work, another aftershockrattled the area and set off a small landslide from a nearbycliff.
The army and the medics lined up with bowed heads and ahuge Chinese flag was waved from a large pile of rubble.
The death toll from the quake was raised to more than34,000 on Monday, but the figure could jump dramatically as theCommunist Party chief in Sichuan said nearly 30,000 weremissing. A further 5,000 are believed still buried under therubble.
The government put direct economic losses in Sichuan aloneat about 67 billion yuan (4.9 billion pounds).
Air raid sirens, as well as car, train and ship hornswailed around the country to mark the one-week anniversary.Flags flew at half mast and cinemas were ordered to stopshowing films for the mourning period.
In Beichuan, another town devastated by the quake, severalhundred rescuers bowed their heads and laid wreaths made fromtwigs and scrap paper pulled from the debris.
"We're all feeling very heavy hearted. So many peopleweren't saved," a soldier said, by the remains of a wreckedschool.
In Beijing, the country's top leaders, led by President HuJintao, wore white flowers on their chests and bowed insilence.
Nearby, in Tiananmen Square -- where student-ledpro-democracy protests were crushed by the army in 1989 -- thesombre mood quickly turned into a vocal show of patriotism.About 1,000 flag-waving people marched in the vast square,chanting "Go China Go" and "Rebuild Sichuan", and singing thenational anthem.
SEARCH FOR SURVIVORS
A senior government official said rescuers had reached theremotest areas of the province by Monday, but roads to some 50quake-hit towns and villages were still blocked by rocks andmudslides.
Hundreds of aftershocks and bad weather have hampered therescue operations, and officials have warned of rockslides fromunstable mountain slopes, and blocked rivers threatening toburst their banks.
More than 200 relief workers in five vehicles were buriedby mudflows over the weekend, while trying to leavequake-affected areas, Xinhua said, citing the transportministry. The death toll had not been confirmed.
There was a burst of elation in ruined Beichuan, when onewoman was found alive.
Wang Hongguo, head of the rescue team, said she had foundher under a mass of concrete. "We had to pull her out verygradually. She looked quite sturdy, so she might pull through,"Wang said.
But rescuers mostly had the gruesome job of recoveringdecomposing bodies. Dozens of bodies were pulled from therubble in Beichuan on Monday, and rescuers scattered lime andsplashed disinfectant to prevent disease.
Farmer Wang Hongchen and his wife Chen Guangfen scrambledover hundreds of metres of rubble to look for their son, whoworked as a mobile phone repair man in the town.
"I think there's still hope. He worked on the first floor,so if he was lucky there would have been space for him tosurvive," Wang said, in between shouting out his son's nameover the ruins.
Some 245,000 people were injured in the disaster, the worstto hit China since 1976, and Premier Wen Jiabao on Mondayordered stepped-up epidemic prevention work, Xinhua reported.
Authorities set up an initial batch of 300 "tentclassrooms" offering psychological counselling toschoolchildren in the quake-affected areas of Mianyang andDeyang, Xinhua said, citing the Education Ministry.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry appealed to theinternational community to provide more tents for about 4.8million people who lost their homes in the quake.
So far, 10.8 billion yuan has been received from donors athome and abroad, China said. Chinese customs had cleared 81shipments of relief materials from 17 countries by Monday,including satellite telephones, medical equipment and spareparts for helicopters.
Rescue teams from Russia, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, theUnited States and Singapore are also searching for survivors.
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beichuan and byBen Blanchard, Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing; Writing by JeremyLaurence and Ian Ransom)
