More than 50,000 feared dead in earthquake

THE death toll from Monday's earthquake could surpass 50,000 in Sichuan Province, the rescue headquarters of the State Council said this afternoon.

The confirmed death toll in Sichuan has risen to 19,509 by 4pm today, said Li Chengyun, vice governor of Sichuan Province at a press conference, according to Xinhua news agency.

Rescuers are trying to pull out as many people alive as possible as thousands remain buried under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Sichuan's Wenchuan County.

Tens of thousands of troops, firefighters and civilians have raced to save more than 25,000 people buried across a wide swathe of collapsed schools, factories and hospitals.

As of 10am today, 64,040 victims had been hospitalized in Sichuan. Among them, 12,587 patients were severely injured, Gao Qiang, deputy Minister of Health, told a news conference in Beijing this afternoon.

No epidemics have been reported in Sichuan, Gao said, adding that the government will try everything to achieve the goal of "no big epidemic after a great disaster."

China had been able to control epidemics after all major natural disasters since 1976, including the 7.8-magnitude quake in Tangshan City that killed more than 240,000 people.

He said medical workers had acquired better knowledge of epidemic diseases and effective measures to prevent them.

"We have made careful plans for disease control and prevention in disaster areas and have sent a large group of medical workers to those areas to carry out our mission," said Gao.

"Whether we achieve the goal will depend on the real work we do in those areas," he added.

Meanwhile, domestic donations in both cash and goods to the quake-hit areas had risen to 1.344 billion yuan (US$192 million) as of 3pm today, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
by Lidia Chen