![]() ![]() The government has said about 7,000 classrooms were destroyed, while angry parents and even rescuers have pointed to steel reinforcing rods in broken concrete slabs that were thinner than a ball point pen.Īuthorities promised to investigate the school collapses, but there has not been any word on the findings. Another 17,991 people remain missing and about five million have been left homeless, forced to seek shelter in tent camps and hastily built prefabricated housing units. The quake has killed more than 69,000 people, but Lu Guangjin, spokesman for the State Council, China's Cabinet, said there was no tally of how many of the victims were schoolchildren. On Wednesday, security forces blocked grieving parents and reporters from some collapsed schools in a sign that Beijing is becoming increasingly intolerant of their protests. Skies in Mianyang were clear at midday Thursday, although rain was expected by the weekend.Įlsewhere in the quake zone, parents whose children were crushed to death in their classrooms vowed to continue a grass-roots campaign for investigations into alleged corruption and shoddy construction. Heavy rain in mountains upstream have also increased the risk. Explosives and heavy machinery have been used in several cases to clear the rubble and divert water before it rises to threatening levels. ![]() Steep hillsides that collapsed into river valleys during the massive earthquake blocked water and formed more than 30 new lakes throughout the area. The frequent aftershocks have exacerbated the Tangjiashan flood threat by sending waves crashing against the mud and rock blocking the river. just south of Qingchuan city at the relatively shallow depth of six miles. Geological Survey said the aftershock struck at 12:41 p.m. "They told everybody to evacuate because it wouldn't be safe," said Yang Jiayun, sitting in her tent pitched near a hillside. According to Xinhua some 250,000 people have been evacuated from areas threatened by the lake.Īuthorities had earlier begun evacuating people in the city of Mianyang, where tent camps set up to house quake victims were emptying out.Īt a camp near Mianyang's Fule mountain, refugees said they had been told to leave for high ground by mid-afternoon. Xinhua reported that 10,441 people in a low-lying area 32 miles from the lake area were evacuated Thursday afternoon and a traffic ban was being enforced in areas downstream from the dam. The man declined to give his name because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "If it keeps raining heavily, Tangjiashan's water level will rise to the level of the flood-relief channel within two or three days, after which the water will naturally flow out through the channel," said a staffer reached by phone at the Sichuan provincial flood relief headquarters. Xinhua reported that water was still more than four feet below a diversion channel carved to drain the lake and it was not clear whether other measures were being taken to control the steadily rising water level. ![]()
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