China declares three days of mourning after quake

Rescue workers take a break in the devastated town of Beichuan. Photograph: Dan Chung

China today declared three days of national mourning for its earthquake victims and ordered a suspension of the Olympic torch relay.

The state council, China\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s cabinet, said the mourning period would start tomorrow and include three minutes of silence observed nationwide at 2.28pm (7.28am BST) — exactly one week after the 7.9-magnitude quake struck in Sichuan province.

That would be followed by horns of vehicles, trains, ships and air raid sirens wailing in grief, it was announced. All national flags will fly at half-mast at home and at Chinese diplomatic missions abroad, and public recreational activities will be halted.

Organisers of the Beijing Olympics said the torch relay would be suspended \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"to express our deep mourning to the victims of the earthquake.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

The relay sombrely resumed last week, with runners starting with a minute of silence and asking for donations along the route. Organisers said the relay would go on as planned in Sichuan next month.

In the disaster zone, efforts appeared to shift from searching for buried survivors to clearing corpses from shattered buildings as the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 32,476.

Another 220,109 people suffered injuries, according to a statement from the state council. The government has said it expects the final death toll to surpass 50,000.

In Beichuan, near the quake\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s epicentre, few hopeful relatives could be seen. Several dozen corpses in blue body bags lay in a street. Soldiers continued to pull more dead from the wreckage.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"It will soon be too late\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" to find trapped survivors, said Fuji Yakoji, the deputy leader of a Japanese rescue team that pulled 10 bodies from a flattened school. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"We hope with our hard work we will find more people alive.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

Wu Hai, a Chinese rescue team leader who came from the neighbouring Yunnan province, said bodies in the town were in the middle stages of decomposition and \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"many of the limbs are broken off\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\".

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"There are definitely many more (bodies) here. Locals here said several thousands have been buried here.\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"

A \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"slightly bruised\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" man was today pulled out alive from a collapsed hospital after being trapped for 139 hours, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Experts say buried earthquake survivors could live for a week or more, depending on the temperature and whether they had access to water.

A Malaysian rescue team in the town of Muyu, further north, sifted slowly and methodically through the wreckage. However, they were not tapping on the debris in the hope survivors would hear and respond as other crews had done earlier. They instead used giant cutters to split steel girders.

Dozens of students were buried in new graves dotting a green hillside overlooking the rubble, the small mounds of dirt failing to block the pungent smell of decay wafting from the ground. Most graves were unmarked, though several had wooden markers with names scribbled on them.

Zhou Bencen, 36, said he raced to the town\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s middle school after the earthquake, where relatives who arrived earlier had dug out the body of his 13-year-old daughter, Zhou Xiao, crushed on the first floor.

Zhou cradled his wife in his arms, holding her hand and stroking her back while she sobbed hysterically. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Oh God, oh God, why is life so bitter?\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" Liao Jinju wailed. The couple\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s 9-year-old son survived.

The World Health Organisation said conditions for homeless survivors were ripe for outbreaks of disease and called for quick action to supply clean water and proper hygiene facilities.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Ensuring supply of food and safe drinking water and trying to restore good sanitation are critical because these are basic transmission routes for communicable diseases,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" said Hans Troedsson, WHO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representative to China.

Chinese health officials have not reported any disaster-related outbreaks so far.

Nuclear facilities jolted by the quake were confirmed to be safe and troops were sent to reinforce security, Major General Ma Jian, the military\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s deputy chief of operations, told reporters in Beijing.

China has a research reactor, two nuclear fuel production sites and two atomic weapons sites in Sichuan province, the French nuclear watchdog has said. All are located within 90 miles of the earthquake\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s epicentre.

Also in the quake area, three giant pandas were reported missing from the Wolong nature reserve, the world\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s most famous reserve for the endangered animals. Panda houses were severely damaged and five staff members were killed, the forestry spokesman Cao Qingyao told Xinhua. The 60 other giant pandas at the reserve were safe.

中国为地震遇难者哀悼三日

在成为一片废墟的北川县，救援的工作人员正在稍作休息。摄影：常丹（音）

中国今天宣布，为纪念地震中的遇难者，举国哀悼三天；奥林匹克火炬传递暂时中止。

国务院公告说，哀悼期从明天（5月19日）开始，并且在下午 2 点 28 分全国默哀三分钟——这个时间正好是四川省发生 7.9 级地震的一周之后。公告还说，届时，汽车、火车、船只鸣笛，防空警报拉响。全国和驻外机构降半旗志哀。停止一切公共娱乐活动。

北京奥运会的组织者说，火炬传递将暂时中止，以表达对地震中遇难者的深深悼念。下个月在四川的传递活动则将如期举行。火炬传递上周曾在沉重的气氛中继续进行。传递者在起跑前默哀一分钟，并在沿途号召人们捐款。

在灾区，救援工作的重点从寻找被掩埋的幸存者转向清理废墟中的尸体。与此同时，官方确认的死亡数字升高到 32476 人。国务院发表的一份声明称，另有 22 万零 109 人受伤。最终的死亡数字可能超过 5 万人。

在地震的中心北川县，还能看到零星的抱着希望的家属。街道上摆放着几十具装在蓝袋子里的尸体。士兵们还在从废墟中拖出更多的死者。日本援救队的负责人 Fuji Yakoji 说，“已经没有多少时间留给那些仍被困住的幸存者了。我们希望通过努力的工作，找到更多的生还者。”援救队已经从一所被夷为平地的学校中拖出了十具尸体。

一位从相邻的云南省来的救援队负责人吴海（音）说，城镇中的尸体正在腐烂，“许多肢体都断折了”。“这里肯定有更多的尸体。当地人告诉我们，有几千人被埋在这里。”

官方的新华社报道，一位受了“轻微压伤”的男子在被困 139 小时后，从一所倒塌的医院中被救出。专家说，被地震掩埋的幸存者可能生存一个星期或更长，这取决于温度以及这些幸存者是否能得到水。

一支马来西亚的救援队伍进入了靠北部的木鱼镇。他们缓慢而有条不紊地探查废墟。不过，他们并没有像其他队伍早先做的那样，通过敲打断壁残垣以希冀生存者能够听到，而是用巨大的剪刀剪断钢筋。

在绿色的山坡上堆起了一座座新坟，几十名学生被掩埋在这里。山坡下是碎石堆成的矮墙。泥土中散发出刺鼻的腐烂气息。大多数的坟都没有标志，只有少数的几个立有木牌，上面刻着死者的名字。

36 岁的周本岑（音）告诉记者，地震后他就飞奔向镇里的中学。那里，比他早到的亲属们已经挖出了他 13 岁女儿周晓（音）的尸体。她没埋在了第一层。周本岑安抚着怀里的妻子，握着她的手，拍打着她的后背。她的妻子廖金菊（音）泣不成声，“天哪，我怎么这么命苦？”他们 9 岁的儿子幸存了下来。

世界卫生组织宣称，无家可归的幸存者们正面临疾病爆发的危险。该组织呼吁尽快采取行动，提供干净的水和合适的卫生设备。该组织的代表 Hans Troedsson 进言中国“要确保食品和安全引用水的供给，并努力恢复良好的卫生环境。这些工作非常关键，因为传染病的基本传播途径（就是通过水、食品和环境的接触）。”中国卫生部门的官员至今没有报告任何与灾难有关的疾病爆发。

受地震冲击的核设施被证实是安全的；军队已经被派往那里加强安全——总参作战部的马健少将在北京这样告诉记者们。据法国核监视机构报道，中国在四川有一座用于研究的反应堆，两处核燃料生产点，以及两处原子武器部署，全部位于离震中不到 90 英里（约 150 公里）的范围内。

在地震区，还有三只大熊猫从卧龙自然保护区失踪。大熊猫是世界上最著名的濒危保护动物。林业局发言人曹清尧告诉新华社记者，熊猫馆受损严重，有五名工作人员死亡。保护区中的其余 60 只大熊猫则安然无恙。