7,700 dead in China quake epicentre, battle to reach thousands trapped in rubble

At least 7,700 people have died in one small town at the epicentre of a huge earthquake that struck southwest China, state media reported on Wednesday.Only 2,300 people in Yingxiu town survived Monday's quake, local government official He Biao was quoted saying by Xinhua news agency. The town has a population of 10,000.More than 1,000 of the survivors were seriously injured, the report said.The quake has left more than 12,000 people dead, according to official figures, although the toll is expected to rise dramatically.Hampered by shattered roads and driving rain,China has further battled to locate survivors among the tens of thousands of people buried in the rubble of its worst earthquake in 30 years.The destruction around the epicentre of the 7.9-magnitude quake in the remote county of Wenchuan is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and building after building flattened.Rescue teams have been seen pulling bodies and badly injured survivors out of the ruins of schools, factories, hospitals and houses.China has deployed 54,000 troops in the disaster zone, and the military said it was hopeful it could go ahead with parachute drops and helicopter relief flights which were cancelled on Tuesday because of the thunderstorms."As soon as weather conditions permit, airdrops of food and medicine into Yingxiu town will begin immediately," said Lieutenant General Li Shiming of the People's Liberation Army, referring to a badly-hit town in Wenchuan.However the China Meteorological Authority said more rain was forecast later this week which would raise considerably the risk of new landslides in the mountainous region.Amid the delays and setbacks, the nation focused on the precious minutes going by for those who were buried under rubble but may have survived. "Rescuers Race Against Time," the headline of a special front-page report in the China Daily said, above a huge photo of rescuers digging through rubble. Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been overseeing rescue efforts from the badly-hit city of Dujiangyan, had earlier appeared to express impatience with the pace of relief efforts."We must try our best to open up roads to the epicentre and rescue people trapped in the disaster-hit areas," he said."At present, we have great difficulties carrying out our rescue work."A team of 1,300 PLA medics and other troops had managed to reach Wenchuan county around mid-day Tuesday after hiking by foot.Other small teams were reported to be trickling into the worst-hit area north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.
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