By Emma Graham-Harrison
DUJIANGYAN, China (Reuters) - China ordered fresh waves ofhelicopters and aid to earthquake-devastated areas as the sheermagnitude of caring for tens of thousands of homeless survivorsthreatened to overwhelm relief efforts.
The Communist Party leadership told officials to "ensuresocial stability" as Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake in southwestSichuan province spawned rumours of chemical spills, fears thatdams could burst and torrid scenes of collective grief.
The official death toll estimate from the Monday quakestood at 14,463. But as search teams sift, often bare-handed,through towns turned to rubble, that number is likely toballoon. And the strains from tens of thousands of homeless aregrowing.
In Dujiangyan and other hard-hit cities and towns, manyresidents spent the night sleeping outside or in makeshiftshelters, fearing more tremors and building collapses.
"In one minute the city we know flew away. I never dreamtit could happen," said He Lixia, a teacher in Dujiangyan, wheremany people slept outdoors.
Rescuers there wrapped corpses dragged from the rubble intarpaulins, and after allowing relatives to briefly mourn, spedthem to morgues. They were so busy that a notice outside onecollapsed school, where locals said nearly 300 children died,asked parents to go to search for missing children in shifts.
"Because there is a heavy work load at the morgue we havearranged first for the parents of years 1, 2, 3 students to goand then organise for the parents of year 4, 5, 6 students," itsaid.
Wang Yujie, a teacher whose school withstood the quake,said getting more water was now residents' most immediate need.
"There is enough food but not enough water, we have onlyhad bottled mineral water the past few days, nothing to cookwith," she said as she queued beside a water truck.
By Thursday, unhygienic waste was also a growing problem astemporary toilets failed to keep up with demand.
In Shifang, another small Sichuan city that covers manyvillages, 30,000 of some 430,000 residents were missing or outof contact, local officials told Xinhua.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party's Standing Committee metlate on Wednesday to assess the calamity that has thrown a darkshadow over preparations for the Beijing Olympics in August.
The government ordered fresh waves of troops to supplementthe tens of thousands already dispatched, and more than 100more helicopters to help send rescuers and supplies to areasblocked by buckled roads, state media said.
"As long as there is a glimmer of hope, spare no efforts inrescuing," the Party leadership ordered, according to Xinhua."Ensure social stability in the disaster zone."
But the waves of rescuers appear to be hampered by lack ofspecialised equipment.
Television has shown droves off them straining to hand-liftconcrete blocks, and into the fourth day since the quake, hopesof pulling survivors from crumpled schools, homes and factoriesare dimming.
DANGEROUS DAMAGE
The devastated area is home to China's chief nuclearweapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretiveatomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.
The China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corpreported that several of its facilities in Sichuan were damagedby the quake, with six staff killed. One project was stoppedand workers were evacuated, it said.
The report on the corporation's Web site (www.cnecc.com)did not describe the facilities or mention any radiation leaks.A Western expert knowledgeable about the Mianyang lab said itwas not likely that those facilities were put at serious risk.He requested anonymity.
Officials have also warned of dangers from increased strainon local dams as well as mudslides on brittle hillsides whererain has been forecast over the next few days.
Landslides had blocked the flow of two rivers in northernQingchuan county, forming a huge lake in a region where 1,000have already died and 700 are buried, Xinhua said.
"The rising water could cause the mountains to collapse. Wedesperately need geological experts to carry out tests and fixa rescue plan," Xinhua quoted Li Hao, the county's CommunistParty chief, as saying.
Premier Wen Jiabao, a geologist himself, has criss-crossedthe disaster zone and made emotional appeals to workers andcomfort orphaned children.
"To be responsible to the people, be responsible tohistory, we must do rescue organisation work at this crucialmoment," he said late on Wednesday, according to Xinhua.
The quake was the worst to hit China since 1976 when up to300,000 died. Leading disaster modelling firm AIR Worldwidesaid the cost of the quake was likely to exceed $20 billion(10.3 billion pounds).
(Writing by Chris Buckley; Editing by Ken Wills)