[Leonis]

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/World/story_46225.asp

China quake toll rises to 266 AP - Aftershocks have claimed more lives following a major earthquake in western China, taking the death toll to 266, state media reported. Five victims died today, including people injured when the quake struck early yesterday and workers killed by aftershocks that hit as they were rescuing victims, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. More than 500 aftershocks jolted the area last night and a quake of magnitude five was reported before dawn today, Xinhua said. Chinese officials put the magnitude of yesterday's quake at 6.8, while the US Geological Survey said it was 6.3. At least 2,050 people were hurt, 600 of whom were hospitalised with serious injuries, Xinhua said. More than 300 doctors and nurses have been assigned to care for victims, it said. Aftershocks could be felt in Kashgar, the most populous city in the area, about 300km from the worst-hit region. Rescuers have been digging through rubble in search of buried survivors in the disaster zone, an isolated western section of the Xinjiang region near the mountainous border with Kyrgyzstan. Xinhua said 8,861 houses and hundreds of other buildings were destroyed. Rescuers used their hands to dig through rubble, afraid that heavy equipment might injure buried survivors, said a volunteer in the hardest-hit village, Chongku Qiake. Officials said 90 per cent of that town's 30,000 people were forced from damaged homes. While there was no complete count of those left homeless by the quake, Xinhua said 9,000 tents shipped to the area had ensured none were left sleeping rough in sub-freezing temperatures. Almost all the dead were reported in Bachu County, where flimsy building construction seemed to have worsened the high death count, officials said. Although the neighbouring county of Jiashi was closer to the epicentre, homes there have been reinforced following numerous quakes in recent years and suffered little damage. Relief supplies and a rescue team equipped with search dogs and sophisticated detection equipment began arriving from Beijing, about 2,900km to the east. People in the regional capital of Urumqi were also donating clothing and supplies and local businesses in Xinjiang set up relief funds totalling over $US300,000. ($A497,100). Some of those killed were children whose schools were toppled by the tremors. Xinhua said 900 classrooms were wrecked. Officials said at least 12 students died. The Communist Party leader for Xinjiang, the deputy secretary of China's Cabinet and the deputy minister of civil affairs were at the scene of the earthquake supervising rescue work, state television said. China's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, killing some 240,000 people. Its magnitude was measured at 7.8 to 8.2.

Terrible, terrible tragedy