Premier Wen reemphasizes saving lives in quake relief

BEIJING—Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday evening that saving lives is still the major task of current relief work against a major quake which jolted southwest China’s Sichuan Province on Monday afternoon.
Wen made the remarks at a meeting of the disaster relief headquarters under the State Council. He urged to seize opportunities to rescue people, reduce casualties, and resume roads to the quake-hit areas as soon as possible by all means.
“Transportation, electricity, communication and water supply should be resumed to ensure that the disaster relief work goes on successfully, and resuming transportation is the key,” he said.
He also asked the health department to assign 3,000 medical staff to Sichuan as soon as possible. More than 20,000 soldiers and armed policemen have arrived in Sichuan and another 20,000 will arrive Wednesday. The air force’s 18 helicopters served 28 tasks to drop 12.5 tons of foods and other relief material on Tuesday.
The Chinese International Rescue Team and local rescue teams have arrived at quake-hit areas and rescue people from debris. Wen Tuesday afternoon visited Deyang and Mianyang cities, where he encouraged people to bravely confront natural disasters and overcome the hardships together.
He visited a primary school where more than one hundred children were buried under debris when the quake occurred. More than 70 students have been rescued. Wen said saving lives should be on top priority and all the collapsed buildings should be thoroughly inspected.
He urged relative departments to make proper arrangements of the victims, send food, tents, medical staff and medicine to them as soon as possible.
Around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Wen visited Jiuzhou Stadium in Mianyang city, where more than 10,000 victims were temporarily resettled. He required relative departments to take good care of the orphans, helping them step out of the shadow of the disaster and grow up as happily as other children.
A strong quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale jolted Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province at 2:28 p.m. on Monday, causing more than 12,000 reported deaths by 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Sichuan alone.
On Wednesday morning, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao oversaw the rescue work at Beichuan County, one of the regions worst hit by Monday’s massive earthquake,
The death toll in Beichuan is estimated at 3,000 to 5,000, with nearly 10,000 injured.
While inspecting rescue operations in Qushan Township, two kilometers from Beichuan County, Wen met several soldiers who rushed to carry an injured girl. Wen asked people to make way for the girl.
“Time is life,” he stressed and urged rescuers to do their utmost to rescue survivors.
In Beichuan Middle School where more than 1,000 people were buried by the toppled buildings, rescuers continued hollering into a megaphone to remind those buried to keep calm.
“This is very important to let them know rescuers are trying to save them,” Wen said, “Even though there is only a slim chance of survival, we should not lose hope”. As of Wednesday morning, more than 300 survivors had been evacuated from the school’s debris.
Wen visited survivors temporarily settling down in the school playground. “I feel very sorry that you have lost your family members and relatives during the devastating quake,” he said.
“But survivors should live on and live an even better life,” he said, “When facing with calamity, the most important thing is that we should have determination to combat the disaster and are confident in a better future.” “With our joint efforts, we can build new homes and bring up our children,” he said, “Our happy life is the best consolation to the dead.”