Search for crashed chopper in China quake zone

SHIFANG, China-Thousands of soldiers scoured China's mountainous earthquake zone Monday for the wreckage of a military helicopter that was carrying injured quake survivors when it crashed at the weekend. Five crew members and 14 passengers were on board the army Mi-171 helicopter when it went down Saturday amid fog and turbulence in southwestern Sichuan province, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.It said four rescue helicopters had launched missions in the area where the crash was believed to have taken place, assisted by more than 3,000 soldiers on the ground. But they came up empty-handed on Monday."The wreckage of the crashed helicopter has not yet been found," the defence ministry said in a statement, adding that a "continuous and all-out air and ground search" had been launched.Military personnel involved in the effort said they believe it crashed near Zhaogong Mountain in Sichuan province, which bore the brunt of the May 12 quake.The helicopter had carried epidemic prevention experts to quake-hit Li county, and was returning with residents too seriously injured to be moved by land, Xinhua added.Reflecting the gruelling routines forced on military chopper crews in the quake zone, it had completed 63 flights since the earthquake.
The death toll from the quake, China's worst for a generation, rose to 69,019 with another 18,627 missing, the government said Monday.Meanwhile, more than a million people waited anxiously for drainage work to start on a menacing lake-the size of more than 50,000 Olympic-size swimming pools-created when quake-triggered landslides blocked a river.Regular troops and paramilitary forces toiled for a week to dig a diversion channel for the Tangjiashan "quake lake," hoping to prevent it overflowing and flooding densely populated areas downstream.By late Sunday, the last troops had been flown out by helicopter, leaving a handful of experts charged with monitoring the situation, the water resources ministry said on its website.It remained unclear late Monday whether the diversion plan would succeed.The Tangjiashan lake is just one of about three dozen "quake lakes" created by the 8.0-magnitude tremor, and people throughout the region are monitoring as the others swell."We think they won't be too dangerous. Downstream we have a lot of good infrastructure, so we think we will be able to avoid disaster," Wen Miaogui, a spokesman of Hongbai township, one of several communities devastated by the quake, told AFP.However, the danger could grow this week, with occasionally heavy rain showers expected in the quake zone, state meteorological authorities said.Amid those worries, people still tried to piece together their lives."I've got no insurance  and I lost everything," shrugged Han Jun, 30, as he looked at the pile of rubble that used to be his home in the town of Beichuan."I kind of knew we lived in a high-risk zone, but somehow I never thought we'd have an earthquake like this."Of the dead, more than 11,000 were reported to be children and teachers killed when their schools collapsed.It made Children's Day, which China marked Sunday, a painful day for some parents, many of whom have vented their fury over the alleged shoddy construction of lots of school buildings."(The authorities) said we should come and celebrate because the kids here today are the future of Beichuan," a young mother surnamed Li told AFP."But my son should be out there... my son should be out there."More than 50 towns in Sichuan remained without power three weeks after the quake, the government said.China, however, had received domestic and foreign donations worth nearly six billion dollars to cushion the blow, it said.That includes about 157 million dollars from overseas Chinese donors, which will be used to build 100 schools and 100 small hospitals in Sichuan, the government said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080602/ts_afp/chinaquake_080602122609;_ylt=AhD8uAZgC7e1e33KohFQHqiFOrgF

As in the days of Noah...