China quake death toll rises to 791 and 294 missing.

16/4 Tass 165

BEIJING, April 16 (Itar-Tass) - The death toll of the powerful
earthquake in the Northwest of China that hit the area on Wednesday has
risen to 791 people, another 294 people are still listed as missing, the
Xinhua news agency reported on Friday with reference to data of the rescue
operation headquarters.
A total of 11,486 people got injuries of varying severity and 1,176 of
them are in a grave condition, a representative of the rescuers'
headquarters said.
The 7.1-magnitude quake shook the Qinghai province, Yushu County in
the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu at 07:49 am (03:49 am MSK)
Wednesday. Its epicentre was located some 30 kilometres from the Gyegu
town with a population of 100,000. The quake destroyed over 85 percent of
houses there - mainly mud dwellings with timber framing.
As rescuers raced to transport tents, quilts and other relief
materials to the region, many survivors in hardest-hit Gyegu town, the
seat of the Yushu prefecture government and home to 100,000 people, spent
Wednesday night in the freezing open air, the China Daily newspaper
reported. Several thousand rescuers are engaged in the efforts in a
round-the-clock regime.
To help direct relief efforts, President Hu Jintao decided to cut
short his South America visit and headed home after attending the BRIC
summit in Brazil.
-0-ezh/ast


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