The leader of China’s restive region of Xinjiang has warned of a ”life and death struggle” against terrorism, following a series of attacks.
Haze settled over Beijing on Wednesday, two days before the start of the Olympic Games that have been beset by worries over pollution
China’s unprecedented openness following last month’s earthquake is proving short-lived, as soldiers begin to cut off sensitive areas and as local media face growing reporting restrictions.
China, facing emergencies ranging from swollen lakes to rehousing millions after last month’s devastating earthquake, is looking to the future.
Parents, grieving and angry at the deaths of their children under a collapsed school, kept a poignant vigil at the ruins of the building on Tuesday, demanding that those responsible be brought to justice. In the tiny farming town of Wufu, nearly every building withstood the May 12 earthquake — except the three-storey Fuxin Number Two Primary School.
Chinese medical teams have fanned out across the earthquake zone, disinfecting makeshift camps and educating survivors, and on Monday the Health Ministry said it could guarantee there would be no epidemics. Where bodies could not be cremated, they had been been buried deep underground and far from water sources to prevent contamination
Engineers have completed work to drain a lake formed by last month’s earthquake that had threatened to inundate towns downstream and add to the toll of China’s deadliest natural disaster in more than 30 years. Authorities have evacuated 197 000 people from areas at risk of flooding and drawn up contingency plans.
A powerful earthquake in south-west China killed at least 107 people on Monday and buried 900 teenagers in a collapsed school as the tremor caused buildings to fall and left whole areas cut off. The death toll was expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams make contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan province.
Five children were killed and more than 100 injured in a 7,8 magnitude earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday, causing buildings to sway and residents rushing out into the streets. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the deaths occurred when two primary schools toppled in Liangping county of Chongqing, a municipality of 30-million that neighbours Sichuan.
A powerful earthquake on Monday in south-west China has killed up to 5Â 000 people and left as many as 10Â 000 injured, state media said, as hundreds of children remained trapped in at least eight collapsed schools. An estimated 3Â 000 to 5Â 000 people were killed in the Beichuan county of the mountainous Sichuan province alone.