Earthquake kills thousands in China

About 900 teenagers were buried under a three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan. Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed there, bowed three times in grief over some of the 50 bodies already pulled out, Xinhua news agency reported.
Xinhua said that at another Dujiangyan school, 420 students were trapped and workers had so far been able to rescue fewer than 100.
"Not one minute can be wasted," Mr. Wen said. "One minute, one second, could mean a child's life."
In Chengdu, many residents slept outside or in their cars, fearing more tremors in the city where at least 45 people have died and 600 have been injured.
Ten students and a professor from British Columbia's University College of the Fraser Valley were among the millions terrorized in Chengdu when the earthquake struck.
They had been taking part in a tai chi class at Sichuan Normal University as part of a 10-week exchange visit when the building began swaying, and plaster started falling from the ceiling.
As everyone dashed for the exits, the floor was heaving so much that some of the students suffered upset stomachs, reported Gregory Anderson, head of the university's department of physical education and kinesiology, who received reports of what happened through BlackBerry messages from members of the group.
The entire student body, including the Fraser Valley students, spent the ensuing night outside in the school's large sports stadium because of fears of aftershocks. "Everyone is fine now, and luckily no one was injured," Mr. Anderson said.
The government has rushed in troops and medical teams to dig for survivors and treat the injured.
At times struggling to contain his emotions, Mr. Wen vowed to spare no effort while urging crying and injured residents to stay calm.
Severed roads and rail lines blocked the way to Wenchuan, and local officials described crumpled houses, landslides and scenes of desperation.
"We are in urgent need of tents, food, medicine and satellite communications equipment," the Communist Party Secretary of Wenchuan, Wang Bin, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
Most farmers' homes in two townships had collapsed. So far, Wenchuan has reported 15 dead, a number likely to rise steeply.
More than 7,000 are thought to have died in Sichuan's Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County, where 80 per cent of the buildings were destroyed, Sichuan television said. Beichuan has a population of 161,000, meaning about one in 10 were killed or injured.
In Shifang, where the quake sparked a major chemical leak, about 600 people died and as many as 2,300 remained buried, Xinhua said. Two chemical plants collapsed, causing more than 80 tonnes of liquid ammonia to leak out.
"Even if it means walking in, we must enter the worst-hit areas as quickly as possible," Mr. Wen said, according to Xinhua.
A paramilitary officer marching with 100 troops toward Wenchuan described a devastated landscape that is likely to yield many dead and to frustrate rescuers. "I have seen many collapsed civilian houses, and the rocks dropped from mountains on the roadside are everywhere," said the People's Armed Police Officer Liu Zaiyuan, according to Xinhua.
Thunderstorms forecast in Sichuan for today could make rescue attempts more difficult and dislodge more loose rocks.
Most phone lines in Wenchuan were down and a website for the region's Aba Prefecture said the quake had cut several major highways. Communications were largely severed in 11 counties.
Landslides had cut off three major rail lines leading to Chengdu, stranding 31 passenger trains and 149 cargo trains, Xinhua said, but no casualties had been reported.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the main quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres.
Its force was felt across much of China, causing buildings to sway in Beijing and Shanghai and as far away as Bangkok.
The Sichuan quake was the worst to hit China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake in northeastern China where as many as 300,000 died.
This time the devastation was worst in hilly farming country, where winding roads can be difficult to travel even in normal times.
Tong Chongde, a spokesman for the massive Three Gorges Dam Project near Sichuan, said there was no damage to the structure.
"I can imagine the authorities are releasing only conservative death toll figures that are likely to grow," said Wyndham James, the China country director for Save the Children.
China's history of natural disasters
August, 1951: Manchuria; floods caused by typhoons, 4,800 dead. Western news outlets rely on "Communist radio" in Mukden, Manchuria's capital, for information about the flood's impact.
June-September, 1954: Hubei; Yangtze River flooding, around 33,000 dead. Beijing rejects the Red Cross offer of aid in the region.
August , 1955: Cheklang; typhoon Wanda, about 2,000 dead, 40,000 homes destroyed. The Communist New China News Agency reports officials met to discuss relief and the "immediate restoration of production."
1959-1961: Countrywide; Great Chinese Famine, more than 30 million dead. Associated Press is allowed to photograph workers in Taipei inserting photographs of Chiang Kai-Shek into food packages that will be dropped from planes over the mainland.
1970: Yunnan; earthquake, 10,000 dead. Chinese officials don't report to outside sources the quake occurred until 1988.
May, 1974: Yunnan/Sichuan boundary; Zhaotong earthquake, magnitude 7.1, 20,000 dead. News reports from China decline to give precise figures.
February, 1975: Haicheng; magnitude 7.3 earthquake, 2,000 dead. Xinhua reports that the quake hit a heavily industrialized region, in a release that closely resembles information given for the Zhaotong earthquake the previous year; exact figures are not immediately reported.
August, 1975: Henan province; supertyphoon Nina's heavy rainfall leads to the failure of the Banqiao Dam, almost 100,000 dead. China does not declassify the death tolls until 30 years later.
July, 1976: Tangshan; magnitude 7.8 earthquake, at least 270,500 and up to 300,000 dead. Western reporters are not allowed into Tangshan until seven years after the quake.
August, 1998: Yangtze River; flooding, more than 3,000 dead.
February, 2003: Jiashi county, Xinjiang region; magnitude 6.8 earthquake, at least 266 dead. A shortage of tents to house the thousands of people left homeless by the quake leads the Red Cross to appeal for more donations.
July, 2006: Southeast China; typhoon Bilis, 843 dead. Initial reports suggest only 200 dead, but the number quickly increases amid accusations that local officials tried to hide the true impact.
August, 2006: Zhejiang-Fujian coast; typhoon Saomai, 483 dead in the worst storm on the mainland in 50 years. China's Ministry of Health sends out psychologists to counsel civilians in the worst-hit areas.
May 12, 2008: Sichuan province; 7.8 earthquake, at least 8,500 dead. Premier Wen Jiabao visits Chengdu to help with recovery work and encourage rescue officials to step up efforts.
Susan Krashinsky
Anatomy of the quake
The earthquake that struck Sichuan province yesterday, killing thousands, occurred in one of the most seismically active areas of the world. It was the strongest quake to hit Sichuan in over 30 years.
POPULATION EXPOSED
STRUCTURAL DAMAGE
200,000
Very heavy
866,000
Heavy
18.3 million
Moderate
HOW IT HAPPENED
Yesterday's quake was the result of motion along the Longmenshan Fault that runs through Sichuan province, in which one side of the fault pushed up and over the other. The instability of this fault stems from the fact that the Tibetan Plateau is continually being pushed eastward by the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate, the same geological process that created the Himalayan range.