'Thousands dead' in Chinese quake

BBC News

Between 3,000 and 5,000 people may have been killed by an earthquake measuring 7.8 in just one county of south-western China's Sichuan province, reports say.

Some 10,000 people are also feared to have been injured in Beichuan county.

Desperate efforts are under way to find survivors. One school that collapsed has buried an estimated 900 students.

President Hu Jintao has urged "all-out" efforts to rescue victims of the quake, which hit 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital.

Cries for help

There are harrowing reports from the scene of the school collapse in Dujiangyan city - about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre.

Teenagers buried beneath the rubble of the three-storey Juyuan Middle School building were struggling to break free, while others were crying out for help, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Parents were watching as cranes excavated the site. Villagers rushed to help with the rescue.

Two girls said they escaped because they had "run faster than others".

Dozens of aftershocks have been reported since the quake, which was the strongest to hit Sichuan province in more than 30 years, Xinhua reports.

State television said the quake had not caused major damage to Chengdu, which has a population of more than 10 million people, or to the nearby Three Gorges Dam.

Troops and helicopters have been sent to the stricken area to help with relief work.

The BBC's Quentin Somerville says the Chinese army has a good record of mobilising and getting people to safety.

He also says news is coming through very fast from the affected area - it is one of the most open and speedy responses to an emergency he has ever seen from Chinese state media.

The quake was felt as far away as Beijing, he says, meaning millions of people will feel connected to the disaster and will be watching TV screens closely to see how the government responds.

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UN wants RI to lead Myanmar relief efforts

The Jakarta Post, Abdul Khalik and Lilian Budianto 

With the United States and other Western countries denied access to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, the UN is asking Indonesia to take the lead in the region to help the reclusive country cope with the disaster. 

Indonesia could draw on its experience with the 2004 tsunami in Aceh to help Myanmar handle the disaster, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) executive director Noeleen Heyzer said. 

"Indonesia did amazing work in responding to the tsunami in Aceh and has become a leader in effective natural disaster response. Therefore, I would like ESCAP to facilitate a strong Indonesian role in Myanmar," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday. 

About 150,000 people were killed when an earthquake-caused tsunami struck Aceh and Nias in December 2004. 

The cyclone that swept through Myanmar last weekend has left more than 100,000 dead, according to local and foreign observers in the military-run country. 

Heyzer, who is also a UN under-secretary-general, said Myanmar needed considerable advice on coordinating a response the way Indonesia did for the tsunami. 

"The tsunami was a dreadful disaster, but there was no further disaster from the spread of disease. People had water and food, and a good health system and sanitation. And there was a coordinated response of foreign aid from across the world," she said. 

Heyzer said she was seeking to bring Indonesia and ASEAN on board to work together with ESCAP in a regional cooperation framework to push the Myanmar junta to allow in more foreign aid. 

"I am preparing to go to Myanmar to show my sympathy at this time and hopefully to talk with leaders there. I think it's time to bring in friends to provide the quickest and the most effective response for the people of Myanmar in this particular situation," she said. 

Indonesia sent Myanmar relief aid Thursday worth US$1 million. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to Myanmar military junta leader Sr. Gen. Tan Shwe to convey his and Indonesia's condolences and sympathy over the cyclone. 

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Yudhoyono's letter shared Indonesia's experiences in handling the tsunami. 

Presidential advisor on foreign policy Ali Alatas told the Post the letter also discussed Indonesia's experiences in managing foreign aid. 

A military and international relations expert with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Kusnanto Anggoro, similarly urged Indonesia to use its good relationship with Myanmar to persuade the country to receive immediate international aid to avoid making the humanitarian disaster worse. 

"This is a golden opportunity for Indonesia to play a greater role in Myanmar by forming a bridge between the West and the military junta, and to show them how Indonesia received foreign aid without compromising its sovereignty," he told the Post. 

As of Friday, the military junta was still rejecting relief aid from the United States and European countries and was refusing to grant visas to Western humanitarian workers. 

The United States and France have threatened to use force to intervene in the reclusive country for humanitarian reasons.

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Images of Aceh Earthquake 9.2 /Tsunami Disaster December 2004

Myanmar death toll 'nears 4,000'

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Almost 4,000 people have died and another 3,000 remain missing in Myanmar as a result of this weekend's devastating cyclone, state media reported Monday.

The soaring death toll was announced as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

The Associated Press reported that resident ambassadors had been summoned to a foreign ministry meeting after a state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of devastation in its wake. 

The government of neghboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP reported. The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai spokesman said. 

Scenes of the destruction showed flooding, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta throughout Friday night and Saturday morning. 

"After about noon, the sky cleared and everybody came out and were just stunned," said Shari Villarosa, U.S. Charge D' Affaires in Yangon. "People on my compound who had been there for about 15 years say they had not seen anything like this here, ever." 

Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone connections 

A spokesman for the Red Cross said the emergency aid group was working with its Myanmar agency to provide drinking water, temporary shelters and blankets and warned that urgent action was needed to limit outbreaks of disease. 

"I think one of the biggest needs right now is to stave off disease," said spokesman Eric Porterfield. "We will be helping with the distribution of clean drinking water and setting up shelters." 

Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath. 

The U.S. aid group World Vision also said it had responded to a government request for assistance. 

"The biggest need is getting water for the two million affected people," World Vision spokesman Casey Calamusa told CNN, adding that it was rare for the government to ask for help. The ruling junta under sharp criticism from many nations for using force to suppress pro-democracy protests last year.   

"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch report they lost their roofs, although so far everyone we have been able to contact reports that they and their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. 

Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry over the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta. 

"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine. 

Zaw said communication was down across large areas of the country. He also said the casualty figures could rise. 

"Very few people have access to these areas to estimate damage and how many people have been killed."  

Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a broadcast media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared. 

Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that littered the deserted roads. 

A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a house. 

"The cleanup is beginning, but this will take a long time," the diplomat said. "The damage around town is intense."   

"Fuel is not easily available. International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days. There is no food for eating," Win said. 

Food prices -- already rising steeply -- climbed further. Long lines could be seen at gas stations in Yangon. Many of the stations were operating on generators. At one gas station more than 100 buses lined up to refill. 

"International emergency assistance would be needed within seven days," the diplomat said. 

Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media reports. 

Cyclone overshadows Myanmar referendum - Voting began in Hlegu near Yangon and other parts of cyclone-ravaged Mayanmar Saturday on a referendum for a controversial constitution -- but the balloting was delayed for two weeks in the hardest hit areas, including the capital. CNN - full story

The government has said elections would be held in 2010 to choose a representative government to replace the military junta. 

An official at the Myanmar consulate in Canberra, Australia, said she believed the referendum would go on as scheduled. "We haven't had contrary information," she said. 

But the announcement was met with skepticism from pro-democracy opposition leaders. 

"It looks as though it would be impossible to have a referendum on Saturday in those areas," Larry Jagan, a freelance journalist who has covered Myanmar affairs for many years, told CNN. 

"The question is, will the regime decide to postpone the referendum in those particular areas, and hold it in other parts of the country?. Or will they go ahead and hold it anyway, and do the best they can?" 

Myanmar last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest, has been in detention without trial for more than 12 of the past 18 years.