Chinese Earthquake Exceeds 12,000 Deaths
Soldiers, paramilitary police and civilian rescue workers struggled against rainstorms and fog Tuesday to reach thousands of people trapped under the rubble of schools, hospitals and residences collapsed by Mondays deadly earthquake in central China.
The death toll exceeded 12,000 and was expected to rise as rescue efforts continued and the scope of the damage became clearer, particularly in hard-hit Sichuan province. The official New China News Agency reported that more than 18,000 were trapped under debris in Mianyang City. Another 2,000 people were found dead and 4,800 were missing in the little town of Mianzhu, near the quakes epicenter in Wenchuan county, the news agency reported.
The quake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale as it rolled through a half-dozen Chinese provinces and rattled buildings as far away as Vietnam.
Its been a pretty bad month for natural disasters, lets hope there won’t be any more for a while.
