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China EarthquakeThe people of China are in my thoughts today.An earthquake in China has killed more than 8,500 people and injured 10,000 others, state media reports. Rescuers search a collapsed schoolThe tremor, in south west China, has also buried 900 teenagers in a school and reports said that 50 students were confirmed dead. The number of dead is only just being revealed as authorities and rescue teams make contact with the worst-hit areas of the central Sichuan province. The Xinhua News Agency reported 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone and dozens of others in surrounding areas. State media said some 80% of the buildings in one county of Sichuan have collapsed, including a hospital. Also, hundreds of people were buried in two collapsed chemical plants, state media reported online. Xinhua said about 6,000 people were evacuated and more than 80 tonnes of liquid ammonia had leaked. Roads and phone lines have been cut off since the 7.8 magnitude quake struck at 2:30pm local time. The quake's epicentre was in the nearby Sichuan county of Wenchuan and its force caused buildings to sway across China and as far away as the Thai capital Bangkok. Shock waves from the quake were even detected by the British Geological Survey. "At 0628 GMT today, the rocks either side of a major fault in south-west China suddenly and violently broke apart," spokesman Roger Musson said. "The shock waves spread out in all directions, like waves in a pond. In a mere seven minutes, the fastest waves reached the UK. "BGS seismologists analysed the data and prepared an alert to inform concerned parties - government and relief organisations." Dutch ex-pat Marco Duits told Sky News that he was at work in China when the earthquake happened. A hospital patient is moved"I was sitting in my office and suddenly everything began to shake," he said. "The third-floor started to break-up. Everybody started to run out. We were outside and watched the whole building shaking. "It did not collapse, but it shook and fell forwards." The 900 students were buried in the rubble of a collapsed three-storey school building in the Sichuan city of Dujiangyan. A rescue operation is under way. Sky News' environment correspondent Catherine Jacob said this earthquake by Chinese standards was considerable. "This earthquake, as I understand, is quite rare in that particular area," she said. "In China, there was a very large earthquake in March measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. That is obviously also very big, but this, by reports anyway, is on much larger scale." Residents in Sichuan provinceState media reported that five more school buildings had collapsed with students inside them. More than 100 casualties occurred in the provinces of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan as well as Chongqing, a municipality of 30 million people that neighbours Sichuan. Four more children died in a separate school collapse in Lirang township of Chongqing. Another 10 died and 14 were seriously injured in the northwestern province of Gansu, Xinhua news agency's online edition said. Buildings toppled in at least six counties near the epicentre, Xinhua said. Premier Wen Jiabao had rushed to the area and President Hu Jintao ordered an "all-out" rescue effort, Xinhua reported. Thousands of army troops and paramilitary People's Armed Police carrying medical supplies were also headed to the region, state television said. Mr Wen described the quake as a "major disaster", and called for calm. STORY HERE |