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Second night quake survivors fight freezing weather

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-16 02:29

YUSHU, Qinghai - Many survivors are still trembling in the chilly temperatures and rescuers will have another sleepless night as the second night after the fatal quake approaches in the small town in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Thousands of rescuers are fighting against altitude sickness, chilly weather, strong winds and frequent aftershocks Thursday to dig through rubble and reach survivors of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that has left 760 dead after it struck the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu in southern Qinghai Province early on Wednesday.

LAMAS RESCUING THE BURIED, RELEASING THE DEAD

"We had dug out dozens of people. Five of them were alive," said a 25-year-old Tibetan lama named Neume Dorje who came from Sershul Lamasery in Sershul County in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in Sichuan Province.

Neume Dorje is one of the 700 lamas who traveled from the lamasery in Garze, southeast to Yushu prefecture, by buses, trucks and any vehicles available Wednesday afternoon.

They have been devoted to rescuing the buried ever since they arrived.

"We do not have any tools, except for our hands," Dorje said, in a tired voice in one of the temporary tents.

His face and maroon robe were covered with dust as strong winds carrying dirt from the mountains.

"We take turns to nap, only covered by our robes. We cannot stop. The rescuing work should be kept going round the clock," he said.

The young lama said they would continue to stay. "We save the living and release the souls of the dead," he said.

Many people are still buried under the debris of collapsed houses in the hardest-hit Gyegu Town near the epicenter, the seat of the Yushu prefecture government and home to 100,000 people, after the 7.1-magnitude quake, which struck the prefecture Wednesday, also toppled 15,000 residential buildings and forced 100,000 residents to be relocated.

SLEEPLESS DOCTORS, NURSES

Donations from around China have been flowing into the area while most injured people badly lack tents and medicine.

"Forty injured people slept in tents last night in the yard of our hospital," said Han Huiying, president of Yushu Prefecture People's Hospital.

All the 260 staff members of the hospital are restless to save the injured.

"Many doctors and nurses had not even had a meal," Han said. She showed a small piece of ship's biscuit. "It's the best food we had today," she said.

Han said the main building in the hospital had been damaged and the injured could not be transferred back into the sickrooms.

"The situation would continue tonight," she said with a worried expression.

Buses had been made into temporary ambulances to do simple examinations including x-ray tests, type-B ultrasonic tests and electrocardiograms, she said.

"Tonight will be another sleepless night," she said.

INSTANT NOODLES WITH DUST

"I have stomach ache," said 61-year-old man named Jigme Sengye who was eating a bowl of instant noodle covered in dust and sand.

"My house collapsed and the new house under construction was also fell down," he said, sitting on a pile of quilts mixed with mud on the gymnasium's playground.

His 14-year-old grandson Thubten Dorje cooked the meal -- instant noodles -- for the family Thursday night. "I was scared," said the boy recalling the quake. He is a junior middle school student at Yushu Minzu Middle School.

Dorje was at school when the quake hit while the rest of the family was still sleeping. He rushed out of the school building with his classmates. His family however did not get out of the house in time, but survived to pull each other out of its debris after the quake.

All the family belongings they have now are the quilts plus three thermos bottles, a kettle and a boiler.

It would be the second night the 10-member family spent on the playground without a tent, as most of the rescue supplies are still on the way.

"We are lucky enough. Others lost their lives," said Jabar Tsopa, the second daughter of Thubten Dorje.

"What we need now is simply a tent," she said.

The family is just one of the hundreds of the homeless families on the playground without a tent and has to cope in the open air for one night more.

Many survivors had to stay out in the open Wednesday night in the freezing weather.

Some wrapped themselves with quilts taken from the debris, others had their own tents.

Rescuers have set up dozens of tents for survivors in Gyegu, but the effort seemed far from enough.

Trucks loaded with tents, quilts and drinking water could be seen on the 800 kilometers long highway from Xining to Yushu on Thursday.

As of 3 pm, 8,370 tents had arrived in the quake-hit area and another 12,500 tents were expected to arrive in the town Friday, two days after the quake, said Kunyang, director of the provincial civil affairs department.

Nearly 40,000 tents had been dispatched by the Civil Affairs Ministry, Beijing municipal government and Qinghai Provincial civil affairs department, but had not arrived yet.

Within a couple of days there should be enough supplies, Kunyang said.