50,000 feared dead after China earthquake
Chinese government mobilises 30,000 extra troops to held find survivors of Monday's devastating earthquake
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Thursday, 15, May 2008 07:45
Up to 50,000 people are feared dead following Monday's devastating earthquake in south-west China.
The claim from state media comes as the country's government mobilises 30,000 extra troops to help find survivors buried under the rubble.
The official death-toll from the 7.9-magnitude quake remains at 15,000, but tens of thousands of people are still missing.
According to the Xinhua state news agency, 30,000 people are missing in the Sichuan province towns of Shifang and 7,700 in Yingxiu.
A further 20,000 people are thought to still be buried under rubble in Qingping, Jinhua and Tianchi.
The earthquake, the worst to hit China in three decades, struck 90km from provincial capital Chengdu on Monday.
In total 20 million people from 44 counties and districts have been severely affected by the quake, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been in the affected regions since Tuesday, has revealed that 50,000 food packets, blankets and clothing items will be air-dropped in Sichuan this week.
"We must use all our forces, and save lives at whatever costs," he said.
"Life is the most precious thing; we must be amenable to the people and the history."
China has also accepted an offer from Japan for its neighbour to send in its own emergency rescue team, the first foreign country to have such an offer accepted.
The government claims its air force, army aviation and civil aviation is conducting its largest-ever non-combat air operation, with 90 extra helicopters scrambled to the quake-hit areas.