China stands still to mourn quake victims

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. (7.28 a.m. British time),exactly a week after the 7.9 magnitude quake that ravaged thesoutheastern province of Sichuan.

The death toll from the quake was raised to more than34,000 on Monday, while the direct economic losses in Sichuanalone were put at about 67 billion yuan (4.9 billion pounds).

Some 220,000 people were injured in the disaster, the worstto hit China since 1976, and the authorities believe a further9,500 are thought to be still buried under the rubble inSichuan. Most are feared dead, but some are still being pulledout alive.

"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 and car horns blared,another aftershock rattled the area and set off a smalllandslide from a nearby cliff.

The army and the medics lined up with bowed heads and ahuge Chinese flag was waved from a large pile of rubble.

In Beichuan, another town devastated by the quake, severalhundred rescuers bowed their heads and laid wreaths made fromtwigs pulled off nearby trees and scrap paper pulled fromdebris.

"We're all feeling very heavy hearted. So many peopleweren't saved," a soldier said, standing by the remains of awrecked school.

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

Despite the treacherous conditions, the search forsurvivors went on as families refused to give up hope for theirloved ones.

Hundreds of aftershocks and bad weather have hampered therescue operation, and on Monday the transport ministry reportedthat more than 200 relief workers had been buried by mudflowsin recent days.

Details of the accidents were not immediately available. Itwas unclear whether any of those buried had been pulled outalive.

There have been numerous rockslides from unstable mountainslopes, and blocked rivers swollen by heavy rain havethreatened to burst their banks.

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.

Rescuers also found a 50-year-old woman alive in thewreckage of a residential building at a coal mine.

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.

Even with hundreds of troops poring over the wreckage, someusing specialised equipment and sniffer dogs, family memberscarried on the search themselves.

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.

"There's nothing I want more than to find him alive," addedChen. "Other people who know their relatives have died can callthis a memorial day, or a funeral, but not me yet."

Officials have tried to keep people from the area becauseof aftershocks and a build-up of water in blocked rivers. Theofficial Xinhua news agency said the most dangerous mass ofwater was only about 3 km (2 miles) upstream from Beichuan.

Rescuers had yet to reach all the stricken villages, Xinhuareported. By late Sunday, 77 villages were still cut off.

China says it expects the final death toll to exceed50,000.

Huge tent cities have sprung up in Sichuan to accommodateabout 4.8 million people who lost their homes. A ForeignMinistry spokesman appealed to the international community toprovide more tents.

(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley in Beichuan and byBenjamin Kang Lim and Ian Ransom in Beijing; Writing by JeremyLaurence; Editing by John Chalmers)