Editorial Staff
China’s ministry of civil affairs have already confirmed the death number as 589 on Wednesday morning. They also added the injury number to reach 2401 and the evacuation of 230,000 people. According to them, more than 80,000 homes have fully or partially collapsed.
However, there was no explanation for the increasing in the toll from 410 to 589 within a day. The rescuers are continuously pulling out the dead bodies from the wreckage.
Shang Gangzheng, the doctor at the epicentre of the quake, told AFP in Longtoushan that it was a terrible quake. He has lost a lot of colleagues and friends and was one of the witnesses of this tragedy. More than 150 blue tents have been created in the town to give shelter to the survivors. The site has been reported very dirty and litter all around with the strong smell of urine emanating.
Upset mothers are trying to comfort each other for the loss of their children in this disaster. Yan Anqiao, a 30 year old mother of two says, “I have lost my 7 year old daughter and a 10 year old son. I am not very sure that i will ever have a real home again without my kids. My children were my world.”
Sheng Taimei was out when the earthquake came and took her 11 year old daughter away for forever. She says, “She was very helpful, warm and emotional child. I am nothing without her”.
The effort of searching the survivors in Longtoushan is happening in the concentrated area of 600 meter (0.4 mile), which is an envelope of the hillside township.
Residents of the area told AFP that schools and dormitories have also collapsed making them recall the 2008 disaster in Sichuan where more than 80,000 people were killed.
Zainab Asif
Damodar Kalyan
