Chinese Search Teams Struggle After Earthquake
By The Daily Telegraph | May 19, 2008
Beichuan, China — Chinese search teams struggled to cope with the scale of the Sichuan earthquake yesterday despite the efforts of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, police, and volunteers. A week after the earthquake, the government estimates nearly 10,000 bodies may lie buried in the wreckage of buildings, but many sites are still not being excavated.
"What we need is professional equipment, especially small-scale engineering machinery," an official overseeing rescue work in Beichuan, the worst-hit major town, Zhou Ming, said. All through the city, much of which was levelled by landslides in the aftermath of the earthquake, bodies lie clearly visible under the rubble.
