LUDIAN, China (AP) — Ten-thousand Chinese soldiers are using pickaxes and backhoes in an ongoing effort to clear roads and dig residents from collapsed homes after Sunday’s 6.1-magnitude earthquake in southwest China.
The death toll from the disaster is now at 410, with 12 people still missing. Nearly 2,300 were injured in the quake.
Hundreds of volunteers have converged on the disaster zone to take part in the rescue efforts, using their bare hands to dig. Some have been formed into company-sponsored units complete with uniforms and their own relief aid to distribute.
A 5-year-old boy was dug from a collapsed home yesterday, and today, state media released a photo taken in a hospital of two pregnant women who comforted each other while trapped in the rubble before they, too, were rescued.
The quake struck an area of steep hills and narrow roads not suited to all the traffic of the massive relief effort. Heavy rain has been adding to the complications today. Much of the damage was due to landslides.
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APPHOTO XAW117: A rescuer walks past paramilitary policemen searching for survivors at a destroyed house following a massive earthquake in the town of Longtoushan in Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. Rescuers raced Tuesday to evacuate villages near rising lakes formed by landslides, complicating relief efforts following a strong earthquake in southern China that killed more than 300 people and has left thousands homeless. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (5 Aug 2014)
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APPHOTO XAW114: Rescuers carry a victim’s body to a stretcher near a destroyed house following a massive earthquake in the town of Longtoushan in Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. Rescuers raced Tuesday to evacuate villages near rising lakes formed by landslides, complicating relief efforts following a strong earthquake in southern China that killed more than 300 people and has left thousands homeless. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (5 Aug 2014)
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APPHOTO XAW105: Chinese paramilitary policemen and rescuers carry a victim injured in Sunday’s earthquake in the town of Longtoushan in Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. Rescuers raced Tuesday to evacuate villages near rising lakes formed by landslides, complicating relief efforts following the strong earthquake in southern China that killed over 300 people and has left thousands homeless. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (5 Aug 2014)
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APPHOTO XAW104: A woman stands next to an injured child near a damaged house following Sunday’s earthquake in the town of Longtoushan in Ludian County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2014. Rescuers raced Tuesday to evacuate villages near rising lakes formed by landslides, complicating relief efforts following the strong earthquake in southern China that killed over 300 people and has left thousands homeless. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (5 Aug 2014)
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