By Lucy Hornby
CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - A 31-year-old Chinese executivewas pulled alive from the rubble of a power plant on Tuesday,eight days after a massive quake struck southwestern China andkilled an estimated 50,000.
Ma Yuanjiang was rescued in Wenchuan county, epicentre ofthe May 12 quake in mountainous Sichuan province, after 179hours buried in the rubble, state media said.
His rescue came as China tried to restore calm in theprovincial capital, Chengdu, after tens of thousands rushedinto the streets alarmed by a television prediction of anotherpowerful 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.
Chengdu residents rushed from their homes before midnighton Monday, alarmed by the prediction of another earthquakeafter the 7.9 magnitude tremor on May 12.
A few hours later, a 5-magnitude aftershock rattled windowsand is believed to have 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.
NERVES AT BREAKING POINT
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 said on Mondaythat 200 rescue workers had been buried in landslides since May12.
Ma's release raised hopes of further rescues. In 1990, aquake survivor lasted two weeks under a collapsed hotel in thenorthern Philippines.
Rescuers found Ma on Saturday when they were digging a holetrying to reach a colleague, Yu Jinhua, Xinhua news agencysaid.
"Following an amputation operation, Yu was rescued at about6:00 p.m. on May 18," Xinhua said. "Rescuers then turned to Maand sent sweetened water to him through a straw."
GRUESOME TASK
But rescuers mostly have the gruesome task of recoveringdecomposing bodies. Dozens were pulled from the rubble in thetown of Beichuan and rescuers scattered lime and splasheddisinfectant to prevent disease.
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 30,000were still 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.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry appealed to theinternational community to provide more tents for about 4.8million people. The central bank reiterated calls for banks toset up branches and lend to companies in ruined areas.
So far, 10.8 billion yuan (794 million pounds) has beenreceived from donors at home and abroad, China said.
The quake warning also prompted panic in neighbouringChongqing municipality and Guizhou province.
"The panic was much worse in Guizhou, where reports of afrog and toad migration also spread public fear," Xinhua said.
In Tongzi county in Zunyi, a city in the north of Guizhouthat borders Sichuan and Chongqing, "some villagers said theysaw a massive migration of frogs and toads on Monday night,which they took as quake forecast", Xinhua said, quotingZunyi's Vice Mayor, Zeng Yongtao.
He said the city government was investigating.
(Writing by Nick Macfie; editing by Roger Crabb)
(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))
