Sichuan earthquake kills nearly 10,000
13 May 2008
The death toll from China's worst earthquake in three decades was nearing 10,000 early on Tuesday as rescuers worked through the night, pulling bodies from schools, homes, factories and hospitals, Reuters reported. The 7.8 magnitude quake hit a mountainous area of Sichuan province in southwest China on Monday afternoon. Ripples were felt across much of the country. Severed roads and rail lines meant troops were forced to travel by foot as they struggled to reach the worst-hit area of Wenchuan county, 100 kilometers from Chengdu, the provincial capital. There has been no word from the three townships closest to the epicenter. About 900 teenagers were buried as a three-storey school building collapsed in the city of Dujiangyuan. At another collapsed school in the city, fewer than 100 of 420 students survived. One in 10 people are feared dead or injured in the 161,000-strong Beichuan Qiang autonomous county, where 80% of the buildings were destroyed.