Powerful Aftershock Rattled China's Southwest, Hampering Frantic Rescue Efforts

by Raj for Future Makers    May 18, 2008

A powerful aftershock rattled China's southwest early Sunday, hampering frantic efforts to find earthquake survivors and help nearly five million people facing the risk of disease and flood.

The 6.0-magnitude tremor shook some of the worst-affected parts in Sichuan province six days after China's worst natural disaster in a generation left an estimated 50,000 people dead.

China has suffered more than 20 aftershocks of 5.0 or above on the Richter scale since last Monday's initial 7.9-magnitude quake, amid all-out efforts to rescue more than 10,000 people buried under the rubble.

One survivor was pulled out on Sunday after 139 hours under the debris of a flattened hospital in the ravaged Sichuan provincial town of Beichuan.

At least 63 more people were rescued alive on Saturday, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, defying experts' warnings that survival chances greatly diminish three days after an earthquake.

But not all the rescue stories have happy endings. A man pulled alive from the rubble after 129 hours -- and whose leg had to be amputated by rescue teams -- died in a hospital on Sunday of heart failure, state media said.

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