Flood fears spark evacuation from quake-hit city

The official number of deaths from China's worst earthquake in 30 years rose to almost 29,000 as thousands of people were evacuated from areas near the epicentre because of the danger of flooding. Residents and relief workers left Beichuan city for higher ground after it was reported that a river may burst its banks and flood the area. The river was jammed up by a landslide; now that may burst.
Read articles here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/17/chinaearthquake.china2

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7406109.stm
Read stories of refugees and survivors here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/17/chinaearthquake.china
Watch videos here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/may/16/braniganearthquake
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/may/15/earthquake
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1488655367?bctid=1556679171
See collections of photos here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/may/15/chinaearthquake.china?picture=334183439

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id=3947490&&offset=11&&sectionName=WorldAsia

Atmosphere revision - Higher

A good site here to help you revise this difficult section. Remember there is a strong possibility of this coming up this year. See the site here.

China quake deaths close to 15,000

Nearly 15,000 people died in the devastating earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province. More than 25,000 are still trapped in the rubble two days after the 7.9 quake struck, causing landslides and razing homes, schools and whole villages. Soldiers have rushed to a dam above one city over fears for its stability. Roads in the mountainous area have been badly damaged by the earthquake or have been covered by landslides. Workers are digging through the rubble of collapsed buildings with their bare hands. Read more here.

A country Devastated and Isolated? Burma

Burma's junta has tightened access to areas hit by Cyclone Nargis, despite pleas to allow in foreign aid workers. A UN official says the regime has erected more checkpoints to ensure foreigners cannot reach affected areas.
The latest official figures put the death toll at almost 38,500 with 27,838 more missing. Meanwhile, forecasters say another cyclone is forming off Burma's coast.
Watch the video here. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7400209.stm
Aid agencies fear the death toll could be far higher than official estimates.
The Red Cross said it had studied figures from 22 organisations and warned the toll could be as high as 128,000. A UN body, the International Organisation for Migration, says it may already be too late to save the many victims who are in need of aid.

China aftermath of 'Quake

The official death toll across the whole of China had been put as 11,921. But the state-run news reported that more than 12,000 people were killed in Sichuan alone. The guess at the numbers who died have been rising steadily throughout the day.

Road, rail, air and phone links to the epicentre of the 7.9-magnitude quake were cut, and this stops people getting in to help. It is feared that the quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing. There are still many, many people out in the streets. They don't want to go back into the buildings because there are rumours of aftershocks.

A professor at the University of Leeds who has researched earthquakes in China, said: "You can get very large earthquakes occurring where buildings are well constructed, and you might get 50 or 100 people dying. If the buildings are poorly constructed, you can get 10,000 or 20,000 deaths."

Just east of the epicenter, 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school . Many mums and dads are still waiting outside schools to see if their “only child” is going to be pulled out of the rubble under the collapsed buildings. Many school pupils are still missing and this is their future.

See this in pictures here or here . Read more here. There is a reminder on how earthquakes happen also here from the BBC.

Burma Says “NO” to help from foreign aid workers

The disturbing story of Burma (officially called Myanmar now) refusing to allow foreign aid workers in and the aid being stolen from the people who desperately need it, is harrowing. You can watch a video here and read the article here.

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