Devastating earthquake — Up to 10,000 dead as schools, homes leveled in central China
The 7.9-magnitude quake devastated a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. Striking in midafternoon, it emptied office buildings across the country in Beijing and could be felt as far away as Vietnam.
As today dawned, rescuers were frantically searching for more survivors, but rain was compounding the difficulty. Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to the region, said rain was forecast for the next several days.
Lauramaery Post of Kent, Wash., said her son was in Chengdu, where he has been teaching English since completing a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Post said her son contacted her through a computer telephone system immediately after the quake.
"He lives next door to the hospital," Post said. "He can see the emergency room. There are about a hundred people outside on beds. He said it just started raining, and they have tarps up over the people in beds."
"I am particularly saddened by the number of students and children affected by this tragedy," President Bush said in a statement.
The earthquake rattled buildings in Beijing, 930 miles to the north, causing evacuations of office towers. People ran screaming into the streets in other cities, where many residents said they had never felt an earthquake.
In Beijing, where hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors are expected for the Olympics in August, stadiums, arenas and other venues for the Summer Games were undamaged.
Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000-seat National Stadium — known as the Bird's Nest and the jewel of the Olympics — was conducting a site inspection when the quake struck. He told reporters the building was designed to withstand an 8.0 quake.
"The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake," said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing organizing committee. "We considered earthquakes when building those venues."
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge sent his condolences to President Hu Jintao, adding: "The Olympic Movement is at your side, especially during these difficult moments. Our thoughts are with you."
The government was pouring in troops to aid in the disaster recovery. The official news agency, Xinhua, said 16,000 were in the area and 34,000 more were en route.
Snippets from state media and photos posted on the Internet underscored the immense scale of the devastation. In the town of Juyuan, south of the epicenter, a three-story high school collapsed, burying as many as 900 students and killing at least 50, Xinhua said. Photos showed people using cranes, mechanical hoists and their hands to remove slabs of concrete and steel.
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