Relief in focus as hope for missing fades
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 23, 2013
Door to door
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who rushed to the epicenter several hours after the quake, has urged all-out rescue efforts during the "golden rescue period" in the first 72 hours after the disaster.
But over 2,300 aftershocks, with four measured above 5.0 magnitude, monitored in Lushan as of Monday afternoon, are making the rescue efforts more difficult and life-threatening.
One rescue volunteer had been killed by rolling rocks on a steep road linking Gaohe township and Longmen village, the official microblog account of the Sichuan Daily said Monday afternoon.
Rescue crews, however, were still reaching every household in the quake-affected regions, as was required by Premier Li, to search for the needy.
In Lushan's Gucheng village, over 100 rescuers were searching door to door and clearing debris.
Wang Bolin, leader of the crew told Xinhua that they were also helping the locals fetch food, clothing, domestic animals and household appliances from their ramshackle houses.
Severe shortages of medicine, food, drinking water, tents and quilts have been reported in regions including Lushan and Baoxing.
In Lushan's Shuangshi Township, a group of the armed police involved in the rescue were undergoing food and water rationing because of the relief supply shortages.
"We have not brushed our teeth for the past three days," Wu Xi'an, an officer with the group told Xinhua. "We have been eating instant noodles and pickles. Each of us is assigned with only one bottle of drinking water each day."
On Monday, Xinhua reporters in Tianquan County said an average of 30 relocated villagers were huddling in each tent.
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