Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The death toll is now over 12,000, but the first contingent of PLA troops numbering 200 or so finally reached Wenchuan. More are to follow later tonight. Reader dylan provided the following useful information:
[Xinhua domestic reports that the emergency PBSC meeting of evening 12 May decided to "set up a quake and disaster relief work headquarters with Comrade Wen Jiabao as the head and Comrades Li Keqiang and Hui Liangyu as the deputy heads to take full charge of the current quake and disaster relief work."]
As expected, some kind of PSC level leading group has been set up, led by Wen himself, but also including Li Keqiang, Hui Liangyu (he is the VP normally in charge of disaster relief, but obviously, it's a bit over his head). I think it probably also includes Ma Kai, Meng Jianzhu, and most likely Minister of Finance Xie Xuren.
Sadly, the death toll looks like it is going to be quite horrendous. Tens of thousands of people are still trapped under rubble, and we still have little idea of what happened in Wenchuan itself. The affected areas will need food and medical shipments from the rest of China for months to come. This will not help inflation.
More ominously, anger is spreading, as seen in the excellent WSJ article: "At least nine schools fell across the quake zone, trapping thousands of children in gruesome scenes that were repeated time and again. There was rising anger at authorities over the loss of so many young people, expressed both on the ground and on the Internet."
Wall Street Journal
China Earthquake Exposes
A Widening Wealth Gap
By LORETTA CHAO and JASON LEOW in Pengzhou, China, JAMES T. AREDDY in Shanghai and GORDON FAIRCLOUGH in Shifang, China
May 14, 2008
With the death toll from China's earthquake mounting, the disaster is throwing a harsh spotlight on the widening gap between the nation's rich and poor.
As soldiers and paramilitary police rush to dig victims out from collapsed schools, homes and hospitals, it is clear that the quake inflicted its greatest destruction on rural areas. These include small but fast-growing towns that have mushroomed from the farm fields in recent years as part of China's rapid urbanization.
[Image]
China Photos/Getty Images
Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army block entry to the site of a collapsed primary school, where hundreds of students are trapped.
Such areas have far less stringent building-safety practices than China's relatively wealthy big cities, construction experts say. As a result, some citizens were more vulnerable than others when disaster struck. Rescue and relief workers struggled Tuesday to reach victims in remote areas most damaged by the magnitude-7.9 quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Deaths in Sichuan alone had exceeded 12,000 as of Tuesday evening, with more than 26,000 injured and at least 9,400 buried in debris, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, quoting a senior provincial official.
On the outskirts of the small city of Shifang, east of the epicenter, Fang Haiying, a 40-year-old rice farmer, said more than 10 members of her village remained buried in rubble of their houses. She and her extended family were wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from a chemical leak at a damaged ammonia plant a few kilometers away. "We've been waiting but no one from the government has come. We have nothing to eat," she said.
Nearly every house in Yinhua village on Shifang's western edge was destroyed. Boulders loosed by Monday's quake, some as big as vans, littered the main road in the area, along with the vehicles they knocked over or crushed.
Survivors of the chaos walked down the narrow mountain roads to Yinhua in search of transportation out of the quake-stricken area. Two 15-year-old boys said they had walked three hours from their village in the mountains to get to Yinhua. The pair, Chen Shi and Zheng Jia, said their middle school, like so many others, had collapsed within seconds. About 100 of their schoolmates died, they said.
Tens of thousands are still missing as the rescue effort continues in China following the country's worst earthquake in three decades. Officials warn that more aftershocks and mudslides could add to the toll. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Roughly 90 kilometers away, the disparity of damage was striking. The glitzy new office towers and hotels of Chengdu, Sichuan's bustling capital of nearly 10 million people, were still standing and largely intact. The city suffered relatively little in Monday's quake, despite its proximity to the epicenter.
Natural disasters often wreak their worst havoc on the disadvantaged, people who tend to live in subpar housing. This was the case with Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.
Now, the issue is especially thorny for China's government: President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have based much of the public legitimacy of their administration on trying to address a widening wealth gap resulting from decades of capitalist reforms. Part of their overall plan, for example, has called for improving rural health care and education.
China's booming economy has lifted the financial fortunes of most of its citizens, but some have gained far more than others. Economists say the country, still nominally socialist, is now among the most unequal major economies in the world. Much of this imbalance is seen in the contrast between residents of the big, wealthy cities, and those of small, poorer towns and rural areas.
[Mother]1
AFP/Getty Images
A mother mourned as Chinese soldiers carried the body of her child, killed when his school collapsed in Dujiangyan.
Incomes in rural areas, for example, averaged 4,140 yuan per person last year, or about $590 at current exchange rates. That represents an increase of 91% from a decade earlier, not adjusted for inflation. Urban disposable incomes, by comparison, rose by 150% during the same period, to an average of 13,786 yuan last year.
Mr. Wen, who flew to the disaster zone within hours of the quake, spent Tuesday touring affected areas and reassuring the public that Beijing would help those most affected. "We will try our best to send milk powder to parents and ensure that children do not go hungry," Mr. Wen told victims after learning of shortages of food, drinking water and tents, the Xinhua agency reported.
On the Ground
On the ground, authorities scrambled to rescue survivors. China's defense ministry said that as of Tuesday afternoon, nearly 20,000 soldiers and paramilitary police had arrived in quake-hit areas, with an additional 30,000 en route in planes, trains and trucks, or on foot. Repeated aftershocks complicated efforts and prompted thousands to seek refuge outside in makeshift tents scattered across the region.
[See an Interactive Graphic]2
See details on the earthquake's impact nationwide, and see how the aftershocks took place.
The epicenter of the quake, Wenchuan County, has remained largely cut off from help. Because of bad weather, officials scrapped plans to fly relief supplies in by helicopter, then canceled a second plan to send in rescuers by parachute. Finally, about 1,300 military doctors and soldiers reached Wenchuan by foot -- nearly 24 hours after the quake struck.
China's building code has long required that new structures be able to withstand earthquakes, according to Huang Shimin, an earthquake engineering expert at the China Academy of Building Research in Beijing. But standards from region to region remain inconsistent. Throughout Sichuan, the specification is grade 7 on scale of up to ten. The same level applies in Shanghai. But in Beijing, the standard requirement is a grade of 8 -- reflecting the capital's close proximity to the epicenter of a 1976 earthquake that killed at least 240,000.
Uncertain Issues
"Based on China's codes for earthquake-resistance in building designs, if there is no problem in specific design and construction, China's capability to resist the earthquake should be strong," said Mr. Huang. "But there are many uncertain issues related to the earthquake, so it's still a complicated issue."
Architects said the quake's discrimination could be partly attributable to the variation of tremors from one area to the next. But they also cited widespread differences in construction materials and technical skills between wealthy Chengdu and the poorer towns around it, as well as often patchy enforcement of building codes.
"There are a lot of holes," said a Shanghai-based architect who often works in Sichuan province.
[Map of plates]
Adding to the pressure is that thousands of little-known cities are literally sprouting up from pastureland in China. China's urbanization push is bringing up to 15 million people into cities annually. All of them need shelter, often as cheaply and quickly as possible.
The trend has helped make the world's most populous country the world's largest construction zone. China built about 1.80 billion square meters, or more than 19 billion square feet, of property in 2006. At the time, another 4.10 billion square meters was also under construction, according to government statistics.
Such rapid urbanization is transforming Sichuan, one of China's biggest provinces with a population of about 82 million -- roughly equal to that of Germany. The mountainous province ranked fifth out of China's provinces for the amount of floor space it laid down in 2006, almost twice as much property as completed in Beijing.
In hastily built towns around Pengzhou, about 60 kilometers southeast of the epicenter area, local people acknowledged the construction of their now- destroyed homes was shoddy, with little consideration given to safety. The government's oversight of building regulations has tended to be scant.
Liao Xiaoling said her brother in law was thrown from an upstairs window and her 86-year-old father crushed under a wall when the brick structure that was both their home and business toppled. "Our home is gone," she said.
Besides its collapsed schools, two hospitals also suffered damage in Sichuan. Some experts say public funds often accumulate more slowly than new residents in fast-developing areas, and are often diverted to other uses, such as building lavish local government offices.
Government officials warned against drawing the conclusion that particular kinds of buildings were more vulnerable than others. Li Bingren, the spokesman at China's Ministry of Construction, said buildings in the disaster area were built to code, but the quake and its aftershocks were "stronger and higher than the designed resistance level." Schools, he said, tend to have larger rooms and be bigger than ordinary buildings, exacerbating the toll when they fail.
In Beichuan County, about 160 kilometers from the epicenter, nearly 1,000 paramilitary police were searching frantically Tuesday for survivors in a school that collapsed, burying at least 1,000 students and teachers. The Beichuan Middle School's main building, formerly seven stories tall, had been reduced to a pile of rubble about two meters high, the official Xinhua news agency said. One teenage victim was pulled out with no legs, Xinhua said. Authorities have estimated the death toll could reach more than 3,000.
At least nine schools fell across the quake zone, trapping thousands of children in gruesome scenes that were repeated time and again. There was rising anger at authorities over the loss of so many young people, expressed both on the ground and on the Internet.
At the People's Hospital in Pengzhou, nurses estimated they had treated at least a thousand injured people. A lack of electricity prompted hospital officials to evacuate patients outside into blue tents in the hospital's parking lot and backyard.
'It's All Gone'
The hospital was starting to run out of water Tuesday afternoon. Many patients were frantic because they had been separated from their families and were unable to reach them because of downed phone networks. Some were told to go home, but said they had no homes to return to.
Zhou Yan, a 26-year-old farmer, was in a tent recovering from a head injury she sustained after bricks from the second floor of her home fell on her. Doctors said she was free to go but there was no way for her to get home. "I have no home to go back to. It's all gone," she said.
Ms. Zhou's husband is a migrant worker who makes furniture in Shenyang. He managed to get in touch with her, but no buses were available for him to take home. She said she believes the parents of her niece, who was staying with her when the quake hit, are dead.
Ms. Zhou said her house, built over 10 years ago, was brick, which is common in this area. The couple never thought to build it to withstand earthquakes, especially of this magnitude. She estimated it will cost at least 100,000 yuan to rebuild it, money she said will be "impossible" to save. "There's just no way. I don't know what to do next, or who to ask."
抗震救灾：5万官兵出动 230余名先遣队已抵达震中
近5万官兵出动，其中2万多人已抵现场展开救援 230余名先遣队官兵已抵达汶川县城和震中映秀镇
2008年05月14日05:52 来源：人民网－《人民日报》
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新华社北京５月１３日电 （记者贾永、曹智）全军和武警部队坚决响应党中央、中央军委和胡锦涛主席号召，全力以赴投入抗震救灾。截至１３日１７时，已紧急出动兵力近５万人奔赴灾区，其中２万多名官兵已抵达救灾现场，展开救灾行动。
四川汶川发生７.８级地震后，胡锦涛主席要求灾区驻军和武警部队迅速组织出动，协助地方抗震救灾，保证灾区人民生命安全。在１２日晚中共中央政治局常务委员会召开的会议上，他又要求立即组织人民解放军和武警部队、民兵预备役人员和医疗卫生人员，尽快赶赴灾区，全力抢救受伤人员。军委领导就贯彻落实胡锦涛主席指示，做好抗震救灾工作提出明确要求。
视灾情为命令，视时间为生命。军队迅速启动应急预案，总参谋部下达开展抗震救灾工作的紧急指示，在组织灾区驻军全力投入抗震救灾的同时，在全军范围内紧急调集兵力支援灾区。总政治部启动应急机制展开工作，派出精干工作组到一线了解情况，发出抗震救灾工作中的政治工作指示，要求各部队大力弘扬我军听党指挥、服务人民、英勇善战的优良传统，在抗震救灾中发挥突击队作用。总后勤部火速调集帐篷、食品、药品等大批救灾物资，组织几十支医疗队开赴灾区。总装备部为救灾部队配备了各种救灾器材，源源不断地运往灾区。
全军和武警部队迅速行动，不怕困难、迎难而上。成都军区驻渝某集团军４８４０名官兵抵达安县、都江堰和绵竹灾区后，迅即展开救灾行动。海军、武警部队等单位的１２支医疗防疫队立即投身医疗救护。驻滇某集团军２８２４人，１３日凌晨开始从驻地向灾区机动。济南军区１.８万余名官兵通过空运、铁路输送和摩托化开进等方式，千里驰援灾区。就近支援灾区的武警部队６０００名官兵陆续赶往灾区，驻灾区的１２００名武警官兵已展开救援。空军部队星夜起航，出动伊尔―７６、波音７３７等运输机３９架次，紧急运送６５００名官兵赶赴灾区。携带专业救援装备的北京军区某工兵团１５３名地震救援人员已抵达都江堰灾区。
中央军委要求全军和武警部队急灾区人民所急，想灾区人民所想，以雷厉风行、敢打硬仗、不怕疲劳的作风投身抗震救灾，不惜一切代价确保人民群众生命财产安全。各级党组织要发挥核心领导作用，党员要发挥先锋模范作用，团结和带领部队官兵，以坚定的信心、坚决的行动，完成艰巨的任务，不辜负党和人民的期望。
据新华社成都５月１４日电武警驻川某师先遣队２００名官兵于１３日２３时１５分到达汶川县城，并迅速展开救援活动。据介绍，后续的４７０名官兵预计将在１４日天亮后到达。此前，１３日下午，成都军区某集团军３０余人组成的先遣队，冒雨徒步进入了震中汶川县映秀镇，并展开救援行动，目前已救出３００名伤员。
连夜部署，连夜行动
中共中央政治局常委、国务院总理、国务院抗震救灾指挥部总指挥温家宝13日晚20时30分在列车上召开国务院抗震救灾指挥部会议，强调当前抗震救灾的核心任务仍然是救人。
在谈到救援人员仍然没有抵达汶川等个别重灾区的原因时，温家宝强调，这次特大地震灾害造成有些地方多处山体滑坡，导致公路多处中断；山体移位，近距离相靠，给抢修公路造成极大困难，尽管各方面投入了很大的人力物力和机械，但由于受工作面狭窄的影响，抢修作业无法全面展开，温家宝再次强调，尽管困难很大，也要想尽一切办法，连夜抢修，尽快打通通往震中地区的公路。同时，参与抢险救灾的部队和武警官兵、公安干警要通过各种不同途径，采取空运、水路、步行、翻山等多种方式尽早进入汶川等重灾区。
温家宝要求会后各个工作组要立刻落实会议要求，连夜部署，连夜行动
武警200人强行军21小时成为入汶川县城首支部队
5月13日时23时15分，武警某部参谋长王毅率200人强行军90公里，步行21小时先期进入汶川县城，并立即在县城展开救援工作，第二梯队470名兵力也正紧急行进，预计天亮前后到达。官兵们沿途看到，数十台汽车被埋，房屋成片倒塌。汶川县城地方领导介绍，城内500余人死亡，乡村伤亡情况尚不明确。
这支部队目前在汶川县城没有看到其他救援部队，估计是首支到达县城的部队，他们的到来让当地群众战胜灾害的信心大增。
后续武警部队470人预计天亮后到达汶川县城
武警某师先遣队200人于13日23时15分到达汶川县城后，立即开救援，后续部队470人预计14日天亮后到达。
武警驻川某师到达汶川县城 另有多支部队正在途中
武警驻川某师200人由理县强行军90公里，于13日23时15分到达汶川县城，迅速在汶川县城和龙溪乡展开救援活动。据师参谋长王毅介绍，这个师后续的470名官兵预计将在14日天亮后到达。
四川发生7.8级地震后，解放军和武警部队参加救援的官兵从理县、茂县、都江堰等方向想方设法挺进汶川。13日下午，成都军区某集团军许勇军长带领由 30余人组成的先遣队，冒雨徒步进入震中汶川县映秀镇。抵达现场后，他们立即展开救援行动，目前已救出300名伤员。四川省军区副司令员李亚洲带领一支小分队，冒雨徒步行军32公里后抵达四川理县。目前，他们正在向汶川行进途中。此外，一支由700名官兵组成的队伍也从四川茂县，冒着余震频频、山体滑坡的危险，向汶川挺进。来自济南军区某部的300官兵将在14早晨从都江堰出发，徒步踏上挺进汶川地震灾区的行程。
中国军队调集重兵突击驰援地震灾区
四川汶川12日下午发生里氏7.8级大地震后，中国人民解放军和武警部队紧急投入抗震救灾行动。截至13日17时，已紧急出动兵力近5万人奔赴灾区，其中2万多人已抵达救灾现场，迅速展开救灾行动。
中国国防部新闻发言人13日下午说，四川汶川地震后，胡锦涛主席要求灾区驻军和武警部队迅速组织出动，协助抗震救灾，保证灾区人民生命安全。
这位发言人说，军队处置突发事件领导小组和各大单位的应急指挥机制全力运转，24小时值班。3万余名官兵通过铁路、公路和空中投送等方式，火速增援地震灾区。
特写：迷彩服组成的“生命通道”
5月13日，已在前一天的大地震中化为废墟的四川北川县县城外，道路已完全被巨石阻隔，大雨又导致泥浆遍地，但就在漫山的土黄色之中，始终有一条草绿色的“生命通道”，将从废墟中抢救出的生命向山外传递。
13日上午，记者冒雨一路摸爬滚打，来到了位于一个山坳中的北川县县城，县城已经基本在地震中化为了废墟，城中浓烟四起，城周道路断裂，落差达两三米，到处是房屋大小的巨石。在城边有数十名刚刚被救出的伤员躺在担架上，在雨中等待转移出这座仍充满了余震和危房的城市。
[Xinhua domestic reports that the emergency PBSC meeting of evening 12 May decided to "set up a quake and disaster relief work headquarters with Comrade Wen Jiabao as the head and Comrades Li Keqiang and Hui Liangyu as the deputy heads to take full charge of the current quake and disaster relief work."]
As expected, some kind of PSC level leading group has been set up, led by Wen himself, but also including Li Keqiang, Hui Liangyu (he is the VP normally in charge of disaster relief, but obviously, it's a bit over his head). I think it probably also includes Ma Kai, Meng Jianzhu, and most likely Minister of Finance Xie Xuren.
Sadly, the death toll looks like it is going to be quite horrendous. Tens of thousands of people are still trapped under rubble, and we still have little idea of what happened in Wenchuan itself. The affected areas will need food and medical shipments from the rest of China for months to come. This will not help inflation.
More ominously, anger is spreading, as seen in the excellent WSJ article: "At least nine schools fell across the quake zone, trapping thousands of children in gruesome scenes that were repeated time and again. There was rising anger at authorities over the loss of so many young people, expressed both on the ground and on the Internet."
Wall Street Journal
China Earthquake Exposes
A Widening Wealth Gap
By LORETTA CHAO and JASON LEOW in Pengzhou, China, JAMES T. AREDDY in Shanghai and GORDON FAIRCLOUGH in Shifang, China
May 14, 2008
With the death toll from China's earthquake mounting, the disaster is throwing a harsh spotlight on the widening gap between the nation's rich and poor.
As soldiers and paramilitary police rush to dig victims out from collapsed schools, homes and hospitals, it is clear that the quake inflicted its greatest destruction on rural areas. These include small but fast-growing towns that have mushroomed from the farm fields in recent years as part of China's rapid urbanization.
[Image]
China Photos/Getty Images
Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army block entry to the site of a collapsed primary school, where hundreds of students are trapped.
Such areas have far less stringent building-safety practices than China's relatively wealthy big cities, construction experts say. As a result, some citizens were more vulnerable than others when disaster struck. Rescue and relief workers struggled Tuesday to reach victims in remote areas most damaged by the magnitude-7.9 quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Deaths in Sichuan alone had exceeded 12,000 as of Tuesday evening, with more than 26,000 injured and at least 9,400 buried in debris, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, quoting a senior provincial official.
On the outskirts of the small city of Shifang, east of the epicenter, Fang Haiying, a 40-year-old rice farmer, said more than 10 members of her village remained buried in rubble of their houses. She and her extended family were wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from a chemical leak at a damaged ammonia plant a few kilometers away. "We've been waiting but no one from the government has come. We have nothing to eat," she said.
Nearly every house in Yinhua village on Shifang's western edge was destroyed. Boulders loosed by Monday's quake, some as big as vans, littered the main road in the area, along with the vehicles they knocked over or crushed.
Survivors of the chaos walked down the narrow mountain roads to Yinhua in search of transportation out of the quake-stricken area. Two 15-year-old boys said they had walked three hours from their village in the mountains to get to Yinhua. The pair, Chen Shi and Zheng Jia, said their middle school, like so many others, had collapsed within seconds. About 100 of their schoolmates died, they said.
Tens of thousands are still missing as the rescue effort continues in China following the country's worst earthquake in three decades. Officials warn that more aftershocks and mudslides could add to the toll. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Roughly 90 kilometers away, the disparity of damage was striking. The glitzy new office towers and hotels of Chengdu, Sichuan's bustling capital of nearly 10 million people, were still standing and largely intact. The city suffered relatively little in Monday's quake, despite its proximity to the epicenter.
Natural disasters often wreak their worst havoc on the disadvantaged, people who tend to live in subpar housing. This was the case with Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.
Now, the issue is especially thorny for China's government: President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have based much of the public legitimacy of their administration on trying to address a widening wealth gap resulting from decades of capitalist reforms. Part of their overall plan, for example, has called for improving rural health care and education.
China's booming economy has lifted the financial fortunes of most of its citizens, but some have gained far more than others. Economists say the country, still nominally socialist, is now among the most unequal major economies in the world. Much of this imbalance is seen in the contrast between residents of the big, wealthy cities, and those of small, poorer towns and rural areas.
[Mother]1
AFP/Getty Images
A mother mourned as Chinese soldiers carried the body of her child, killed when his school collapsed in Dujiangyan.
Incomes in rural areas, for example, averaged 4,140 yuan per person last year, or about $590 at current exchange rates. That represents an increase of 91% from a decade earlier, not adjusted for inflation. Urban disposable incomes, by comparison, rose by 150% during the same period, to an average of 13,786 yuan last year.
Mr. Wen, who flew to the disaster zone within hours of the quake, spent Tuesday touring affected areas and reassuring the public that Beijing would help those most affected. "We will try our best to send milk powder to parents and ensure that children do not go hungry," Mr. Wen told victims after learning of shortages of food, drinking water and tents, the Xinhua agency reported.
On the Ground
On the ground, authorities scrambled to rescue survivors. China's defense ministry said that as of Tuesday afternoon, nearly 20,000 soldiers and paramilitary police had arrived in quake-hit areas, with an additional 30,000 en route in planes, trains and trucks, or on foot. Repeated aftershocks complicated efforts and prompted thousands to seek refuge outside in makeshift tents scattered across the region.
[See an Interactive Graphic]2
See details on the earthquake's impact nationwide, and see how the aftershocks took place.
The epicenter of the quake, Wenchuan County, has remained largely cut off from help. Because of bad weather, officials scrapped plans to fly relief supplies in by helicopter, then canceled a second plan to send in rescuers by parachute. Finally, about 1,300 military doctors and soldiers reached Wenchuan by foot -- nearly 24 hours after the quake struck.
China's building code has long required that new structures be able to withstand earthquakes, according to Huang Shimin, an earthquake engineering expert at the China Academy of Building Research in Beijing. But standards from region to region remain inconsistent. Throughout Sichuan, the specification is grade 7 on scale of up to ten. The same level applies in Shanghai. But in Beijing, the standard requirement is a grade of 8 -- reflecting the capital's close proximity to the epicenter of a 1976 earthquake that killed at least 240,000.
Uncertain Issues
"Based on China's codes for earthquake-resistance in building designs, if there is no problem in specific design and construction, China's capability to resist the earthquake should be strong," said Mr. Huang. "But there are many uncertain issues related to the earthquake, so it's still a complicated issue."
Architects said the quake's discrimination could be partly attributable to the variation of tremors from one area to the next. But they also cited widespread differences in construction materials and technical skills between wealthy Chengdu and the poorer towns around it, as well as often patchy enforcement of building codes.
"There are a lot of holes," said a Shanghai-based architect who often works in Sichuan province.
[Map of plates]
Adding to the pressure is that thousands of little-known cities are literally sprouting up from pastureland in China. China's urbanization push is bringing up to 15 million people into cities annually. All of them need shelter, often as cheaply and quickly as possible.
The trend has helped make the world's most populous country the world's largest construction zone. China built about 1.80 billion square meters, or more than 19 billion square feet, of property in 2006. At the time, another 4.10 billion square meters was also under construction, according to government statistics.
Such rapid urbanization is transforming Sichuan, one of China's biggest provinces with a population of about 82 million -- roughly equal to that of Germany. The mountainous province ranked fifth out of China's provinces for the amount of floor space it laid down in 2006, almost twice as much property as completed in Beijing.
In hastily built towns around Pengzhou, about 60 kilometers southeast of the epicenter area, local people acknowledged the construction of their now- destroyed homes was shoddy, with little consideration given to safety. The government's oversight of building regulations has tended to be scant.
Liao Xiaoling said her brother in law was thrown from an upstairs window and her 86-year-old father crushed under a wall when the brick structure that was both their home and business toppled. "Our home is gone," she said.
Besides its collapsed schools, two hospitals also suffered damage in Sichuan. Some experts say public funds often accumulate more slowly than new residents in fast-developing areas, and are often diverted to other uses, such as building lavish local government offices.
Government officials warned against drawing the conclusion that particular kinds of buildings were more vulnerable than others. Li Bingren, the spokesman at China's Ministry of Construction, said buildings in the disaster area were built to code, but the quake and its aftershocks were "stronger and higher than the designed resistance level." Schools, he said, tend to have larger rooms and be bigger than ordinary buildings, exacerbating the toll when they fail.
In Beichuan County, about 160 kilometers from the epicenter, nearly 1,000 paramilitary police were searching frantically Tuesday for survivors in a school that collapsed, burying at least 1,000 students and teachers. The Beichuan Middle School's main building, formerly seven stories tall, had been reduced to a pile of rubble about two meters high, the official Xinhua news agency said. One teenage victim was pulled out with no legs, Xinhua said. Authorities have estimated the death toll could reach more than 3,000.
At least nine schools fell across the quake zone, trapping thousands of children in gruesome scenes that were repeated time and again. There was rising anger at authorities over the loss of so many young people, expressed both on the ground and on the Internet.
At the People's Hospital in Pengzhou, nurses estimated they had treated at least a thousand injured people. A lack of electricity prompted hospital officials to evacuate patients outside into blue tents in the hospital's parking lot and backyard.
'It's All Gone'
The hospital was starting to run out of water Tuesday afternoon. Many patients were frantic because they had been separated from their families and were unable to reach them because of downed phone networks. Some were told to go home, but said they had no homes to return to.
Zhou Yan, a 26-year-old farmer, was in a tent recovering from a head injury she sustained after bricks from the second floor of her home fell on her. Doctors said she was free to go but there was no way for her to get home. "I have no home to go back to. It's all gone," she said.
Ms. Zhou's husband is a migrant worker who makes furniture in Shenyang. He managed to get in touch with her, but no buses were available for him to take home. She said she believes the parents of her niece, who was staying with her when the quake hit, are dead.
Ms. Zhou said her house, built over 10 years ago, was brick, which is common in this area. The couple never thought to build it to withstand earthquakes, especially of this magnitude. She estimated it will cost at least 100,000 yuan to rebuild it, money she said will be "impossible" to save. "There's just no way. I don't know what to do next, or who to ask."
抗震救灾：5万官兵出动 230余名先遣队已抵达震中
近5万官兵出动，其中2万多人已抵现场展开救援 230余名先遣队官兵已抵达汶川县城和震中映秀镇
2008年05月14日05:52 来源：人民网－《人民日报》
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新华社北京５月１３日电 （记者贾永、曹智）全军和武警部队坚决响应党中央、中央军委和胡锦涛主席号召，全力以赴投入抗震救灾。截至１３日１７时，已紧急出动兵力近５万人奔赴灾区，其中２万多名官兵已抵达救灾现场，展开救灾行动。
四川汶川发生７.８级地震后，胡锦涛主席要求灾区驻军和武警部队迅速组织出动，协助地方抗震救灾，保证灾区人民生命安全。在１２日晚中共中央政治局常务委员会召开的会议上，他又要求立即组织人民解放军和武警部队、民兵预备役人员和医疗卫生人员，尽快赶赴灾区，全力抢救受伤人员。军委领导就贯彻落实胡锦涛主席指示，做好抗震救灾工作提出明确要求。
视灾情为命令，视时间为生命。军队迅速启动应急预案，总参谋部下达开展抗震救灾工作的紧急指示，在组织灾区驻军全力投入抗震救灾的同时，在全军范围内紧急调集兵力支援灾区。总政治部启动应急机制展开工作，派出精干工作组到一线了解情况，发出抗震救灾工作中的政治工作指示，要求各部队大力弘扬我军听党指挥、服务人民、英勇善战的优良传统，在抗震救灾中发挥突击队作用。总后勤部火速调集帐篷、食品、药品等大批救灾物资，组织几十支医疗队开赴灾区。总装备部为救灾部队配备了各种救灾器材，源源不断地运往灾区。
全军和武警部队迅速行动，不怕困难、迎难而上。成都军区驻渝某集团军４８４０名官兵抵达安县、都江堰和绵竹灾区后，迅即展开救灾行动。海军、武警部队等单位的１２支医疗防疫队立即投身医疗救护。驻滇某集团军２８２４人，１３日凌晨开始从驻地向灾区机动。济南军区１.８万余名官兵通过空运、铁路输送和摩托化开进等方式，千里驰援灾区。就近支援灾区的武警部队６０００名官兵陆续赶往灾区，驻灾区的１２００名武警官兵已展开救援。空军部队星夜起航，出动伊尔―７６、波音７３７等运输机３９架次，紧急运送６５００名官兵赶赴灾区。携带专业救援装备的北京军区某工兵团１５３名地震救援人员已抵达都江堰灾区。
中央军委要求全军和武警部队急灾区人民所急，想灾区人民所想，以雷厉风行、敢打硬仗、不怕疲劳的作风投身抗震救灾，不惜一切代价确保人民群众生命财产安全。各级党组织要发挥核心领导作用，党员要发挥先锋模范作用，团结和带领部队官兵，以坚定的信心、坚决的行动，完成艰巨的任务，不辜负党和人民的期望。
据新华社成都５月１４日电武警驻川某师先遣队２００名官兵于１３日２３时１５分到达汶川县城，并迅速展开救援活动。据介绍，后续的４７０名官兵预计将在１４日天亮后到达。此前，１３日下午，成都军区某集团军３０余人组成的先遣队，冒雨徒步进入了震中汶川县映秀镇，并展开救援行动，目前已救出３００名伤员。
连夜部署，连夜行动
中共中央政治局常委、国务院总理、国务院抗震救灾指挥部总指挥温家宝13日晚20时30分在列车上召开国务院抗震救灾指挥部会议，强调当前抗震救灾的核心任务仍然是救人。
在谈到救援人员仍然没有抵达汶川等个别重灾区的原因时，温家宝强调，这次特大地震灾害造成有些地方多处山体滑坡，导致公路多处中断；山体移位，近距离相靠，给抢修公路造成极大困难，尽管各方面投入了很大的人力物力和机械，但由于受工作面狭窄的影响，抢修作业无法全面展开，温家宝再次强调，尽管困难很大，也要想尽一切办法，连夜抢修，尽快打通通往震中地区的公路。同时，参与抢险救灾的部队和武警官兵、公安干警要通过各种不同途径，采取空运、水路、步行、翻山等多种方式尽早进入汶川等重灾区。
温家宝要求会后各个工作组要立刻落实会议要求，连夜部署，连夜行动
武警200人强行军21小时成为入汶川县城首支部队
5月13日时23时15分，武警某部参谋长王毅率200人强行军90公里，步行21小时先期进入汶川县城，并立即在县城展开救援工作，第二梯队470名兵力也正紧急行进，预计天亮前后到达。官兵们沿途看到，数十台汽车被埋，房屋成片倒塌。汶川县城地方领导介绍，城内500余人死亡，乡村伤亡情况尚不明确。
这支部队目前在汶川县城没有看到其他救援部队，估计是首支到达县城的部队，他们的到来让当地群众战胜灾害的信心大增。
后续武警部队470人预计天亮后到达汶川县城
武警某师先遣队200人于13日23时15分到达汶川县城后，立即开救援，后续部队470人预计14日天亮后到达。
武警驻川某师到达汶川县城 另有多支部队正在途中
武警驻川某师200人由理县强行军90公里，于13日23时15分到达汶川县城，迅速在汶川县城和龙溪乡展开救援活动。据师参谋长王毅介绍，这个师后续的470名官兵预计将在14日天亮后到达。
四川发生7.8级地震后，解放军和武警部队参加救援的官兵从理县、茂县、都江堰等方向想方设法挺进汶川。13日下午，成都军区某集团军许勇军长带领由 30余人组成的先遣队，冒雨徒步进入震中汶川县映秀镇。抵达现场后，他们立即展开救援行动，目前已救出300名伤员。四川省军区副司令员李亚洲带领一支小分队，冒雨徒步行军32公里后抵达四川理县。目前，他们正在向汶川行进途中。此外，一支由700名官兵组成的队伍也从四川茂县，冒着余震频频、山体滑坡的危险，向汶川挺进。来自济南军区某部的300官兵将在14早晨从都江堰出发，徒步踏上挺进汶川地震灾区的行程。
中国军队调集重兵突击驰援地震灾区
四川汶川12日下午发生里氏7.8级大地震后，中国人民解放军和武警部队紧急投入抗震救灾行动。截至13日17时，已紧急出动兵力近5万人奔赴灾区，其中2万多人已抵达救灾现场，迅速展开救灾行动。
中国国防部新闻发言人13日下午说，四川汶川地震后，胡锦涛主席要求灾区驻军和武警部队迅速组织出动，协助抗震救灾，保证灾区人民生命安全。
这位发言人说，军队处置突发事件领导小组和各大单位的应急指挥机制全力运转，24小时值班。3万余名官兵通过铁路、公路和空中投送等方式，火速增援地震灾区。
特写：迷彩服组成的“生命通道”
5月13日，已在前一天的大地震中化为废墟的四川北川县县城外，道路已完全被巨石阻隔，大雨又导致泥浆遍地，但就在漫山的土黄色之中，始终有一条草绿色的“生命通道”，将从废墟中抢救出的生命向山外传递。
13日上午，记者冒雨一路摸爬滚打，来到了位于一个山坳中的北川县县城，县城已经基本在地震中化为了废墟，城中浓烟四起，城周道路断裂，落差达两三米，到处是房屋大小的巨石。在城边有数十名刚刚被救出的伤员躺在担架上，在雨中等待转移出这座仍充满了余震和危房的城市。
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