China: 40,000 dead, 5 million homeless after quake
Meanwhile, rescuers pulled a 31-year-old man to safety, the second known case of someone being found alive a week after the May 12 earthquake struck Sichuan province. Ma Yuanjiang was saved from the debris of the Yingxiu Bay Hydropower Plant, where he worked as a director, after a 30-hour rescue effort, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Ma was able to speak and began to eat small amounts of food, colleague Wu Geng told the agency. A miner was rescued after being trapped for 170 hours Monday, Xinhua said.
The State Council, China's Cabinet, raised the overall confirmed death toll to 40,075, most of those died in Sichuan province. Officials have said the final number killed by the quake is expected to surpass 50,000.
Another 32,361 people remained missing across the quake zone, said the council.
The government was setting up temporary housing for quake victims unable to find shelter with relatives, but there was a "desperate need for tents" to accommodate them, said Jiang Li, vice minister of civil affairs.
Another 480,000 quilts and 1.7 million jackets were also sent to quake survivors, Jiang said.
Five million people lost their homes in the quake, she said.
"Despite generous donations, the disaster is so great that victims still face a challenge in finding living accommodations," Jiang said.
China has said it would accept foreign medical teams, as the relief efforts shifted from searching for survivors to caring for the homeless. A growing number of countries responded to the call, dispatching doctors to the quake area Tuesday.
A Russian medical team with a mobile hospital arrived Tuesday in the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said. A 37-member medical team sent by the Taiwan Red Cross organization also arrived in the disaster zone.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said a 23-member medical team will leave Tuesday for China. Crews of doctors were also en route from Germany and Italy, Qin said.
"China is willing to work closely" with outside doctors, Qin told a news conference.
Other countries and groups have also offered to send medical teams, but China has not given permission to allow all of them to help.
"But given the situation, and difficulties in the area, including transportation and telecommunications, it is not possible for us to accept all of the rescue and medical teams to engage in relief work," Qin said.
Recent comments
Since 1999 I have been doing tent business with China. Also, we have...
Friend of China | May 20, 2008 at 10:56 p.m.
As an overseas resident who only watched the natural disasters of...
China, great example! | May 20, 2008 at 8:47 p.m.
My heart goes out to these people. Let's not forget these folks...
Pac 10 Alumnus | May 20, 2008 at 5:57 p.m.
