Dujiangyan China Earthquake – Riveting pictures and video of earthquake aftermath in Dujiangyan, China where the magnitude 7.9 earthquake death toll now tops 40,000 dead and at least that many more still missing.
Dujiangyan, China was hit hard by the earthquake with several schools that collapsed killing thousands of students, dozens of apartment buildings and factories were leveled, and rescuers working frantically to reach survivors.
The official death toll in the Chinese earthquake climbed past 12,000 on Tuesday with the toll expect to soar much higher as state media said another 19,000 people were buried under rubble in one city alone.
About 60,000 people were unaccounted for in Wenchuan county – about 50 kilometers northwest of Dujiangyan, China – out of a total population of 110,000.
Chinese paratroopers are expected to reach the hard hit mountainous area where all the roads and rail lines are blocked by earthquake debris and landslides.
China’s state media reported scenes of devastation as rescuers reached villages near the epicenter in Wenchuan, a remote county cut off by landslides about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu.
People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops arrived at Wenchuan’s Yingxiu township and rescued 300 injured residents, Xinhua news agency said, but only 2,000 people were found alive in the town of 12,000, according to He Biao, a local official.
“They could hear people under the debris calling for help, but no one could, because there were no professional rescue teams,” state television quoted He Biao as saying.
Thousands were reported buried under factories, schools and other buildings elsewhere. Hundreds more have died in neighboring provinces.
A series of strong aftershocks of magnitude 4.0 to 6.1 rocked Dujiangyan, China on Tuesday, among the 2,354 aftershocks that struck Sichuan province over the past day, further unnerving shell-shocked residents.
In Dujiangyan — about midway between Chengdu and the epicenter — there was devastation, with buildings reduced to rubble and bodies in the streets.
Many residents simply stood beside their wrecked homes, cradling possessions in their arms, while others huddled in relief tents under heavy rain.
About 900 teenagers were buried under a collapsed three-story school building, as frantic relatives tried to push past a line of soldiers, desperate for news of their children.
For many grieving parents, the news was not good as fewer than 60 of the 900 students survived.
“We’re still pulling out people alive, but many, many have died,” said one rescue worker.
A group of about 15 British tourists were reported missing in the Wenchuan area, near the famous Giant Panda research center, one news report said, citing provincial authorities.
Thirty-seven people were killed in a nearby county when their tourist bus was buried in a landslide triggered by the quake, the report said, but it was unclear whether those included the missing British tourists or whether any other foreigners were among the ill-fated tour group.
And that’s the latest news on the Dujiangyan China Earthquake.
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