A devastating earthquake is the latest in a series of disasters and controversies that have turned what China had hoped would be an Olympic year of celebration into one of turmoil and tragedy. With tens of thousands of people either dead or missing, Monday’s quake in the south-west of the country has plunged China into mourning less than 90 days before the Games.
China poured more troops into the earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday to quicken a search for survivors as time ran out for thousands of people buried under rubble and mud. Across the region, weary rescuers pulled at tangled chunks of buildings and peered into crevices for survivors after Monday’s 7,9 magnitude quake crumpled homes, schools and hospitals.
China’s biggest earthquake for a generation left tens of thousands dead, missing or buried under the rubble of crushed communities on Tuesday, plunging the nation into an all-out aid effort. Rescue teams struggled by air, land and water to reach the areas of south-western China stricken by the huge quake that demolished schools, homes and factories.
Heavy rainfall and wrecked roads hampered rescuers’ efforts to reach the areas hardest-hit by China’s worst earthquake in three decades on Tuesday as the death toll rose to nearly 10 000. State media reports indicated that the number of dead was likely to soar, with Xinhua saying 10 000 people remained buried in the Mianzhu area of Sichuan province.
A massive earthquake stunned south-west China on Monday, killing more than 8 000 people and flattening schools, factories and homes in a powerful tremor that was felt across a swathe of South-East Asia. The quake, with a magnitude of 7,8, struck close to densely populated areas of Sichuan province in what Premier Wen Jiabao called a ”major disaster”.
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.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7,5 struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100km from the provincial capital of Chengdu, the United States Geological Survey said on its website. The quake was felt across much of China and as far west as Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, about 3Â 300km away.
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.
Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines which switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ”More than 50% of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,” said a policeman.
The Olympic flame reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday, an emotional moment for China and the crowning of the Beijing Olympics torch relay that was dogged by anti-Chinese protests on its world tour. Anti-Chinese protesters caused serious disruption to some legs of the main torch relay on its journey around the world.
China opened the world’s longest cross-sea bridge last week aiming to cut travel time between two major ports, but hundreds of drivers have been fined already for, unexpectedly, driving too slow to enjoy the view. The 36km structure spans Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang and is designed to slash travel time between its port city of Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai.
Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch were camped just over a kilometre from the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday and weather conditions look good for the final assault, officials said. Bad weather has denied mountaineers the chance to take the flame to the top of Everest for nearly a fortnight.
Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines that switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ”More than 50% of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,” a traffic policeman in the Guangdong city of Yangjiang said.
Fear of a virus that has infected thousands of children gripped parents in China’s capital and financial hub on Tuesday, as the number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease mounted across the country. More than 11 900 cases of the virus have been reported in China this year, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China’s Olympic ticketing system appeared to suffer another meltdown as the final phase of sales for the Beijing Games got under way on Monday, fans and official media said. Long internet delays and system crashes were reported as the 1,38-million tickets went on sale, echoing last year’s fiasco in which the computer booking network completely crashed.
China’s state press on Monday accused the Dalai Lama of ”monstrous crimes,” a day after Chinese officials reportedly agreed with envoys of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist to keep the door open on dialogue. The Chinese officials and the envoys met in southern China on Sunday for their first talks in over a year.
A virus that has killed 25 children and infected thousands across China will not threaten Beijing’s Olympic Games in August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in comments published on Monday. Health authorities in China have been battling to contain outbreaks of EV71, a sometimes fatal intestinal virus.
A rapidly spreading virus that has already killed 22 children in eastern China has killed an 18-month-old boy in southern China’s Guangdong province, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. The boy died in Guangdong’s Foshan city from a suspected case of hand, foot and mouth disease, which was probably caused by the enterovirus 71, or EV71.
A new railway line being built as part of an upgrade ahead of the Beijing Olympics was a factor in a train crash that left 71 people dead in east China, officials and state press said on Wednesday. The pre-dawn crash near Zibo city on Monday, which also left more than 400 people injured, was the most severe in China in more than 10 years.
Chinese authorities on Tuesday blamed excessive speed for the nation’s worst train crash in more than a decade, amid fears the death toll would climb past 70. After the line to the seaside town of Qingdao was quickly reopened, the official Xinhua news agency cited an investigation panel as saying ”high speed” caused the accident.
Two passenger trains collided in eastern China on Monday, killing at least 70 people and injuring hundreds as carriages derailed and toppled into a ditch, state media said. About 400 people were taken to hospital, with 70 in a critical condition, Xinhua news agency said.
China poured scorn on the Dalai Lama on Sunday and hailed protesters against Tibetan self-rule as patriotic heroes, suggesting the government is not prepared to give ground in talks proposed for coming days. China has blamed the exiled Buddhist leader’s ”clique” for unrest across Lhasa and other Tibetan areas.
China’s offer to hold talks with aides to the Dalai Lama is unlikely to bring a breakthrough on Tibet, experts cautioned on Saturday, saying it was a PR exercise ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Chinese state media said on Friday that government officials would meet soon with a representative of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
China is to hold talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom it blames for a wave of unrest, state media reported on Friday, as the Olympic flame arrived in Japan. The move comes after concerted pressure from the West on China to talk to the Dalai Lama and marks the first serious step to defuse tensions.
Taiwan’s Cabinet will soon lose one of its more colourful members who was notorious for sleeping in Parliament, shouting at legislators, picking his nose in public and shoving a journalist. Tu Cheng-sheng, Education Minister since 2004, will step down next month along with current President Chen Shui-bian.
There is a ”real possibility” that the Beijing Olympics will be targeted by terrorists or that anti-China groups could attack athletes, Interpol’s secretary general said on Friday. ”An attempted act of terrorism is a real possibility and a real concern that all Olympic host countries have shared in recent years,” said Ronald Noble.
China has surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest internet-using population, reaching 221-million by the end of February, state media said on Thursday. The number of internet users in China was 210-million at the end of last year, only five million fewer than the US internet users then, Xinhua news agency said.
Two-time US Open winner Retief Goosen has returned to Asia quietly confident he is finally getting his groove back after a frustrating 18 months trying to reshape his swing. The laid-back South African famously won his two Majors without a coach and then suffered a drop in form last year after deciding to hire a mentor in an effort to improve his backswing.
Nationalist protests against the French supermarket chain Carrefour spread across China on Sunday, with thousands demonstrating outside stores over the West’s stance on Tibet. The authorities appeared to be trying to damp down the protests, with the official media urging citizens to be ”calm” and ”rational”.
Dogged by anti-Chinese protests in Paris, London, San Francisco and New Delhi, the Olympic torch relay is acting as a catalyst for an outpouring of nationalism and indignation by the man on the street in China. In an increasingly wired society, many, especially the internet-savvy young, have taken to the web to express their feelings.
Chinese people in several cities took to the streets on Saturday to denounce Tibetan independence and call for a boycott of French goods following anti-China protests on the Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay. Pictures from the central city of Wuhan showed large crowds marching carrying banners reading: ”Oppose Tibet independence, support the Olympics”.
China on Thursday snubbed an apology from CNN over remarks by one of its commentators as a wave of verbal assaults on foreign media raised concerns over coverage at this summer’s Beijing Olympics. CNN’s explanation that a commentator was referring to China’s leaders — not the people — as a ”bunch of goons and thugs”.