More troops rush in to help China quake rescue

CHENGDU, China (Reuters) - China poured more troops intothe earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday toquicken a search for survivors as time ran out for thousands ofpeople still buried under rubble and mud.

Some 30,000 troops will join 20,000 already digging throughrubble in the southwest province of Sichuan, where Monday's7.9-magnitude earthquake crumpled homes, schools and hospitals,the Xinhua news agency reported, citing a Ministry of Defencespokesman.

Across the region there were clusters of weary survivorsand rescuers pulling at broken chunks of buildings and peeringinto crevices in hopes of finding someone still alive.

"There's still people inside, there's still people inside!"shouted a man surnamed Zhang, gesturing at the rubble of abuilding in Dujiangyan. "There must be a dozen dead people inthere," he said.

The national death toll from the quake has climbed past13,000 and is likely to rise steeply after media said 19,000people were buried in rubble in just one area of Sichuan.

"It's looking bad. There's food and water coming in, butthere's not much hope of many more people coming out alive. Youjust imagine how we feel," said Li Aomin, a businessman inDujiangyan.

A near overwrought Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was shown onstate television scrambling over the remains of a collapsedschool and using a bullhorn to urge on rescuers.

"At present the number one thing is still saving people,"Wen also told local officials, according to Xinhua. "Allcollapsed buildings must be fully checked. If there is aglimmer of hope, then put everything into rescuing."

But the depth of destruction in many towns across themountainous area suggests searchers will find many more bodiesthan survivors among the toppled buildings, which have becomegrim vigil sites for desperate families.

Rain has frustrated rescuers' efforts to get to some areasand more rain is forecast for coming days.

In Beichuan County, at least 1,000 students and teacherswere buried under a seven-storey school building, and rows ofapartment blocks in the town collapsed. Locals told Xinhua thatup to 8,000 residents may have died.

"People escaped from the buildings but were only devouredby the landslides," one survivor, Lei Xiaoying, told Xinhua."There was no way to escape."

That scene has been repeated in many places where troopsare only now entering after struggling to traverse severedroads.

WIDESPREAD DEVASTATION

State media reported devastation in villages near theepicentre in Wenchuan, a remote county cut off by landslidesabout 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the Sichuan provincialcapital, Chengdu.

About 60,000 people were unaccounted for across Wenchuan,authorities said.

Amid the overwhelming grief, there were also moments ofrelief when survivors were found. In Mianzhu, where rescuerssaid the death toll had risen to 3,000, about 500 people werepulled out alive from crushed buildings.

An earlier report said 10,000 people there were buriedunder rubble.

A further 18,645 people were buried under debris inMianyang, a city that also covers much farmland, Xinhua said.

One steam turbine factory near Mianyang was almost wipedout by the quake, and 500 workers and their family members weremissing, local media reported.

The quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976Tangshan quake in northeastern China, when up to 300,000 died.

Offers of aid have poured in from all over the world, threemonths before the Beijing Olympics. The disaster has for nowsidelined upbeat propaganda about the games as well asinternational tensions over recent unrest in Tibet.

Overnight, Chinese President Hu Jintao spoke about theearthquake, as well as Tibet and other subjects, with U.S.President George W. Bush.

Hu told Bush that Chinese people "deeply grieved" themassive loss of life in the earthquake, the Chinese ForeignMinistry said on its Web site (https://www.fmprc.gov.cn).

Analysts said they did not expect serious economic effectsfrom the disaster, but supply shortages could fuel inflation --already at a near 12-year high.

The People's Bank of China said it was providing 5.5billion yuan (404 million pounds) to local banks in Sichuan andGansu provinces to help disaster relief and reconstructionthere.

Central authorities have ordered stricken areas to ensurefood supplies and price stability. But some Chinese newsreports described price hikes and shortages in quake-hit areas.

Radio broadcasts in Chengdu, province capital of Sichuan,appealed for people to be patient in waiting for aid.

(Writing by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills and DavidFox)

($1=6.991 Yuan)