By Lucy Hornby
CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - China tried to restore calm inthe southwestern city of Chengdu on Tuesday after tens ofthousands of people rushed into the streets alarmed by atelevision prediction of another powerful earthquake.
That, along with fresh aftershocks and forecasts of heavyrain, compounded the difficulties for military, government andprivate workers trying to ensure food and housing for millionsof homeless.
Residents of Chengdu, Sichuan province's capital, rushedout for open space before midnight on Monday, alarmed by theprediction of another earthquake after May 12's 7.9 magnitudetremor, which may have killed 50,000 people.
A few hours later, a 5-magnitude aftershock rattled windowsin Chengdu and likely caused more landslides on the roadsleading to Pingwu, the epicentre of the aftershock, wheredestroyed roads have hampered relief efforts.
But on Tuesday, provincial television broadcast interviewswith a series of seismologic bureau officials to explain theprediction and calm a jangled populace.
"Just because you can feel aftershocks, it doesn't meanthey will hurt you. Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldstand in harm's way," said Han Weiding, researcher with thelocal seismological bureau.
Seismologists say that earthquakes are very hard topredict.
The pandemonium showed how nerves have been stretched tobreaking point by the earthquake and aftershocks, which haveofficially killed more than 34,000 people and injured 245,000.
"I think the television coverage is overdoing it. They'rescaring people," said a hotel worker surnamed Li, who spent thenight in a public park.
Postings on China's FTChinese.com have questioned whetherthe quake merits the vast media coverage it has received andsome have argued that reporters and TV presenters lacked"professional knowledge", hampering relief work.
Cars jammed roads leading out of Chengdu on Tuesday. Therewas no report of damage to Pingwu, but Xinhua news agency saidon Monday that 200 rescue workers had been buried in landslidessince May 12.
DEATH TOLL LIKELY TO RISE
The road to Pingwu from the Sichuan plain was still closedto heavy trucks on Monday, complicating efforts to get food,water and tents to tens of thousands of homeless.
The number of dead from the May 12 quake, the worst to hitChina since 1976, is expected to rise dramatically. TheCommunist Party chief in Sichuan said on Monday nearly 30,000people were missing and a further 5,000 were believed buriedunder rubble.
Rescuers had reached the most remote areas of the provinceby Monday, but roads to some 50 affected towns and villageswere still blocked by rocks and mudslides.
Whole towns have been flattened in mountainous areas northand west of Chengdu, and about 4.8 million people are homeless.Housing and feeding during the long-term rebuilding effort willprove a major challenge.
On Monday, sirens wailed and horns honked across China,from tent cities in Sichuan province to Beijing's TiananmenSquare, and millions of Chinese stood for three minutes tomourn the dead exactly a week after the quake struck.
All cinemas have closed for three days and "publicrecreational activities" have been suspended. Foreignentertainment channels have been taken off the air.
A 31-year-old man was pulled out alive from the debris of ahydropower station in Yingxiu on Tuesday after being trappedfor 179 hours, Xinhua said.
With a quake survivor lasting two weeks under a collapsedhotel in the northern Philippines in 1990, more could be foundin coming days.
But rescuers mostly have the gruesome job of recoveringdecomposing bodies. Dozens of bodies were pulled from therubble in the town of Beichuan and rescuers scattered lime andsplashed disinfectant to prevent disease.
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. And thecentral bank reiterated calls for banks to set up branches andlend to companies in ruined areas.
So far, 10.8 billion yuan (794 million pounds) has beenreceived from donors at home and abroad, China said.
($1=6.990 Yuan)
(Editing by Nick Macfie and John Chalmers)
(For more stories on China's quake, click on or follow thelink to Reuters AlertNet http://www.alertnet.org. For fullcoverage of the quake in China, click onwww.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/china))
