(chinadaily.com.cn/Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-18 16:42

Japanese rescue team members (top) search for survivors as Chinese rescue team members carry a body at a badly damaged junior high school in earthquake-hit Beichuan, Sichuan province May 18, 2008. [Agencies]

Rescue work has been complicated by bad weather, treacherous terrain and hundreds of aftershocks.

President Hu Jintao urged emergency workers not to give up efforts to find survivors. "We should put people first and saving people's lives is still the top priority of the relief work," he said.

Offers of help have flooded in and rescue teams from Japan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore and China's Taiwan region have arrived.

Donations from home and abroad have topped 8.945 billion yuan (about $1.3 billion), according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Fujiya Koji, head of the Japanese rescue team in Sichuan, said that chances of finding more survivors were low.

"We haven't been able to find any survivors yet. Generally by this stage the likelihood of survival is low. They say they have been finding some in Beichuan and we'll certainly keep trying," he added.

China has said it expects the final death toll from the earthquake to exceed 50,000. About 4.8 million people have lost their homes and the days are numbered in which survivors can be found.

Premier Wen said the quake was "the biggest and most destructive" in decades and the quick response had helped reduce casualties.

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