In biting cold, survivors wait for food and shelter
People who were fortunate enough to survive the catastrophic earthquake on Wednesday morning found themselves bereft of food, medical supplies and shelter in the freezing Qinghai weather.
Zou Ming, head of the Ministry of Civil Affairs' disaster relief department, said the ministry had collected quilts, warm clothes and instant food, but transporting them to the disaster areas was difficult.
Many survivors spent Wednesday night in open areas as temperatures dropped to minus 3 degrees Celsius. The temperature can top 10 degrees in the day, but drops below zero at night. When the 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Yushu prefecture early in the morning, many people were still in bed and ran into the open in their pyjamas.
A horse racing track has become the town's biggest shelter. Almost 5,000 people, including some who were injured, were estimated to have slept in the open on Wednesday night because of the shortage of tents. Supplies of bottled water and bread were limited, and people had to find blankets among the rubble to shield themselves from the strong wind on the plateau, according to Xinhua.
Another 1,000 people sat or lay on the ground outside a government sports building in Jiegu town, and some were only covered by cotton blankets. More than 40 tents were sent to the sports ground but most people had to stay in the open.
Injured and crying victims everywhere were waiting anxiously for food and water, according to The Beijing News.
'It feels like a war zone in a movie,' said Yu Hu, a survivor. 'The whole town is in rubble, and many unclaimed bodies were just put on the roadside.'
He felt the quake and rushed out of his home in pyjamas and bare feet. He watched his home collapse as his wife's sister and her three-month-old baby were buried underneath.
Yu, who huddled with his wife to keep warm, said his biggest wish was to get a tent for his family. He told the newspaper that 70 per cent of the survivors had no tent.
Mobile phone reception was bad and unstable, too, he said.
Qin Ying, the deputy chief of Yushu county, said medical equipment could not be delivered promptly because of severely damaged roads. The county hospital was overflowing.
The government reported that more than 9,100 people were injured, more than 900 of them severely, but only 2,300 had received medical attention.
Most hospitals in the county have collapsed, and those that did not were dangerous, Karma Sherab, a doctor in the Yushu prefecture hospital who had just completed an amputation operation, told Xinhua.
'We have no means for proper treatment,' he said. 'All we can do is simply treat and wrap the wounds. Surgery was being done in the tent. Some patients whose conditions are too serious to treat, we have to resort to amputation to save their lives.
'We lack everything. We lack medical alcohol, needles and anaesthetic,' the doctor said, as he turned to show a mother who sought help for her injured daughter that his medical bag was empty.
Charities helping the victims, with their telephone numbers and bank account numbers:
Oxfam Hong Kong hotline: 3120 5000
Donation accounts:
HSBC: 047-834668-001
Bank of China: 012-874-0-013040-1
Hang Seng: 284-401080-003
Wing Hang: 035-802-862123-001
The Salvation Army hotline: 2783-2333
Donation accounts:
HSBC: 143-2-013116
Bank of East Asia: 015-515-10-30085-4
Bank of China: 012-878-1-061887-6
Hang Seng: 024-385-094180-001
World Vision Hong Kong
Donation accounts:
HSBC: 018-377077-003
Bank of China: 012-883-0-002502-5
Christian Action
Donation accounts:
HSBC: 002-1-330600
Bank of China: 012-887-0-006108-7
