China quake death toll rises to almost 600

The death toll in the 6.5-magnitude earthquake in a mountainous area of Yunnan province in southwest China rose to nearly 600 people yesterday as fears grew that flooding could cause further chaos.

A further 179 people were confirmed dead on Wednesday, three days after the tremor, bringing the overall toll to 589, said the ministry of civil affairs. Nine people are still missing and another 230,000 have been relocated.

The difficult weather conditions means that there are still water and food shortages.

Sunday’s tremor destroyed thousands of houses and triggered landslides in Ludian and Qiaojia counties, areas with steep hills and narrow roads, where rescuers are concerned by the growing threat of barrier lakes, created when landslides block rivers.

Some 4,200 residents have been evacuated from the lower reaches of the Niulan river in case the barrier lakes burst their banks.

Sun Huaikun, who is in charge of the barrier lake response, said a reservoir on the upper reaches was intercepting river water to reduce pressure on the lake, while two hydroelectric stations on the lower reaches are speeding up the discharge of water from the lake.

Rescuers continued to search through the rubble, although officials said the passing of the 72-hour period after the quake meant that finding survivors was much less likely.

“The golden 72 hours” are up, but we’ll keep with our mission and not give up hope,” Dai Yajuan of the Chengdu Military Area Command, told the Xinhua news agency.

The earthquake is the strongest to strike the area in 14 years and it took place at 4.30 pm on Sunday. The epicentre was in Longtoushan, and the tremor has affected 1.08 million people in the cities of Zhaotong and Qujing.

This is a poor part of China, where nearly 60 per cent of local farmers live on less than $1 a day, in houses built with mud.

China introduced a nationwide campaign to make houses more resistant to earthquakes, but it had little effect in places such as Longtoushan.

Local media reported stories of tragedy and loss.

Chang Cheng (28) found two books containing his family tree in the debris. “My father died in the disaster. I know these things meant a lot to him. I don’t care about all the other things left in our home,” he said.

Wang Facai managed to recover 16,000 yuan (€1,900), and other items from his home.

More than 280km of water pipes and facilities at 37 water sources have been damaged or destroyed, cutting off supply to in excess of 300,000 people.

Local bottled water plants are only able to provide 50,000 litres of drinking water every day, much less than is needed.

Rescuers are now working in remote, sparsely populated areas and officials attribute the sharp rise in reported casualties to remoteness of villages.